Challenging gravity, migrants perform flips. Viewed from solid ground—the communities of origin—they cause a kind of seasickness due to their multiple meanings. The migrant subject gambles with their own life-death; for families, migration signifies tremors and earthquakes; for the community, migration is semi-normalized, meaning it is accepted as a fact, yet traumatically denied, as in ‘there are no more young men.’ It continues in a gaseous state, that is, migratory particles colliding with each other, sometimes coupling, sometimes causing explosions.
Maya/Zoque creators are inventing new metaphors to revolutionize our collective imagination, by appreciating the absence-presence, refiguring territories-homelands where migrants fit, and indigenous peoples globalize without losing their identity.
This set of works by more than 20 artists speaking Zoque, Ch’ol, Tseltal, and Tsotsil is a journey within the journeys of traditionalists on the move. Strangers, exiled, relocated. Where absence (physical) is presence (cultural and intercultural).
Let’s look at it from the communities’ perspective. Because the person who moved (absence) leaves their marks (presences). They leave the house, which is inhabited (absent or returned) because the house is always familiar. They leave family projects running—education, small business, community responsibility, and delegated participation in social-political life; and now more and more in cultural aspects!
Today’s transmodern societies—still in full transition from their semi-closed situation, at least in the collective consciousness—are hybrid, and with the quality of indigenous people particularly looking both backward and forward in their constant reconstruction. Their past dignifies them, gives them meaning. In fact, in this transmodernity, living culture—the aesthetic-ethical sense in experimentation and debate—is the major battleground.
Some perspectives from: (Maruch M) the odyssey, (Ray) nostalgic absence, (Saúl) the heroic-tragic based on illegalities constructed from above, (Joel) the irony of the fleeting hearth, (Darwin) protest against capitalist colonization, (Martha A) feminist empowerment, (Martha L and Andrea) the construction of woman, (Gerardo) the architectural aesthetic effects of migration. And many more artists and meanings!
This is a ‘living exhibition’: it evolves according to the interactions between artists and the reactions of audiences including migrants, communities, and the general public. Don’t hesitate to share your truths (on Facebook and in person), and enjoy the new Maya and Zoque art.
MUY Gallery
July – September 2024
Artwork
Communication | Raymundo López
Oil on canvas
53.5 x 83.5 cm
2023
This artwork represents the perfect staging, captured in an image, of the children of people who work illegally in the United States. It is not easy to enter and leave the country, so the children engage in constant communication as it is the only way to know how they are, what they are doing, and to share their stories and achievements. In other words, they communicate the most important events while their parents are not with them. I mention ‘parents’ because there are also working mothers who leave their children to work illegally for a better future for their family.
The heron will eat you. | Raymundo López
Oil on canvas
53.5 x 83.5 cm
2023
This image represents the constant struggle of one of the tasks performed by a person who emigrates to another country, whether legally or illegally. Strawberry picking is one of the jobs that greatly contributes to the economic improvement of our Mexican compatriots, as well as workers from other countries who come to the United States seeking a better future. The saying ‘the heron will eat you’ is directed at those who work slowly, as they are beginners in strawberry picking. To improve performance, they are yelled at with the phrase ‘the heron will eat you’ in order to motivate them to work harder and adapt to the job.
cuckold | Raymundo López
Oil on canvas
90 x 55.3 cm
2024
One of the sayings most commonly used among agricultural workers in the United States is the word ‘cornudo,’ which refers to infidelity caused by a partner while being far away. The artwork references the figure of a strawberry picker with horns, symbolizing the humiliation and deceit suffered by the betrayed person.
Second Flower | Raymundo López
Oil on canvas
64.3 x 49.2 cm
2024
In the strawberry season in the fields of the United States, ‘Second Flower’ is one of the moments when pickers can make the most of their work. During this time, the crew leaders come up with phrases like ‘everything you pick is money,’ ‘everything you pick is dollars.’ This is what I depict in this artwork.
Is this a dream? | Saúl Kak
Acrylic on canvas
60x70 cm
2024
In the piece, I painted a child who is innocent and does not understand borders or languages. He is happy; however, the adults around him are worried and need to keep moving and arrive in order to continue living. No matter the dangers and risks they may face, their goal is to reach the U.S. ‘Is this a dream?
Migrants | Maruch Méndez
Acrylic on canvas
124 x 159.6 cm
2024
This artwork represents the migrants and how they cross the desert. The characters are holding a stick, a cane that helps them cross. The plants depicted are cacti and thorns found in the desert. The characters are making their way through. The women who are crossing wear pants and dress like men, while the taller characters dressed in white shirts and pants are the coyotes guiding them along the way. The crosses represent the fences. The smaller characters are minors who do not yet have their credentials
Walking | Maruch Méndez
Acrylic on canvas
80 x 56 cm
2022
A heart-wrenching farewell. Stepping on the lord of the serpent earth. The symbol of the feet showing migratory movements is as ancient as the codices from before the Conquest.
Migrant | Antun Kojtom
Oil on canvas
26x32.5 cm
2023
The migrant is in search of happiness, well-being, health, living well, and having something. It is also the burden of ancestral weight, those objects carried from generation to generation, from family to family. They are in search of the light
Between fear and joy | Alux Antun
Acrylic on canvas
107x107 cm
2024
Artwork that narrates the journey faced by thousands of migrants in search of an idea called the ‘dream,’ between the fear of an uncertain journey and the joy of seeking a better way of life.
They migrate due to poverty | Manuel Guzmán
Oil on canvas
61.4x70 cm
2024
I painted a family migrating from their community due to poverty, seeking work.
Little warriors | Marco Girón
Digital photography and pinhole photography
25X25 cm
2008
The photographic series tells a true story about two siblings who, due to various life circumstances, are sent to the United States. The siblings, aged 14 and 20, did not attend school, did not learn to read or write, nor did they learn to speak Spanish. They only speak their native language, which is Maya Tseltal. Under these circumstances, they faced a difficult journey embarking on the long trip. Upon arrival, they encountered several more challenges.
crossroads | Marco Girón
Mixed media, digital and pinhole photography
25X25 cm
2010
The photographic series tells a true story about two siblings who, due to various life circumstances, are sent to the United States. The siblings, aged 14 and 20, did not attend school, did not learn to read or write, nor did they learn to speak Spanish. They only speak their native language, Maya Tseltal. Under these circumstances, they faced a challenging journey embarking on the long trip. Upon arrival, they encountered several more difficulties.
the journey | Marco Girón
Digital photography technique
45.5X45.5 cm
2014
Unit | Jose Gómez
Oil on canvas
40x60 cm
2024
The people who founded the new settlement of Nuevo Zinacantan arrived in this place with nothing beforehand, so they lived under the trees. Later, they began building their houses gradually, and since it was a very united community, everyone helped each other to build their homes.
Tsumil k´aj (stove) | PH Joel In collaboration with Gerardo K´ulej and Edgar Ruíz
Video performance
4 minutos
2024
In several towns in the Lacandon Jungle, mobile stoves have emerged. They no longer have a permanent place inside the house and are secondary elements that are moved outside when they become a nuisance, as the smoke dirties the concrete walls of the houses.
Currently, the diet of these towns relies on products from the city, leading to a pandemic of obesity, diabetes, and pollution of rivers, lakes, and caves due to the high consumption of packaged foods. The replacement of homemade tortillas with commercial ones destabilizes the entire way of life practiced in the towns. Besides the nearly null nutritional quality, it displaces the variety of ritual and everyday tortillas that were once made.
The stove is no longer the heart of the home and is no longer even inside it.
The piece is complemented by an audio recording of the daily life in the town of Francisco Villa, and ends with a collective cry for the arrival of the body of a young person who emigrated to the United States, which is part of the sonic environment when a deceased member of the town is buried.
Ilusions | Martha Alejandro
Sculpture, local clay from San Ramón
2024
This piece was created based on my observation and reflection on the experiences of some women in my family.
When husbands go away as migrants, it is the wife who takes on the responsibility of caring for the children. She also has to improve or build the house, invest in purchasing land and animals. Therefore, she manages the money. These are dreams or projects that families have while the husband is away. Sometimes they are achieved, and other times they are not.
The cracks between the mother and the girl at the back of the sculpture make us think about the multiple communication difficulties: between spouses and their children.
Vakax na/ jelem na | Gerardo K´ulej
medium-digitall
2024
It is an exploration of the changes and displacements in communal forms and aesthetics through the acquisition of goods (infrastructure) that may initially arise from migration, shaping ways of living outside traditional logic—this does not mean I am against it—it is an analysis from a critical and artistic perspective of being part of a ‘global being’ and how I perceive a local space in a more international context.
From having an interconnected aesthetic with metik-balumil (ecosystem) Ach’el – te’ – jobel – xak toj – nukul pat- nukul. Earth-tree-Grass, rush-skin. To an urban aesthetic: Block-sand-cement-tile-rebar, synthetic colors.
The integration of new technologies and displacement of older ones within the space, from stove-to-stove, firewood-to-gas, radio-to-tv, tv-to-computers-cell phones, radio-to-wifi.
More concrete and limited forms within the space where it can accommodate from the kitchen to the bathroom. Previously, everything was isolated, where the bathroom was meters away from the living area.
The appreciation of globalization expressions and the ‘pride’ of having a house can generate disapproval of ostentation (the danger of showing wealth), environmental concerns, and loss of ethical values. ‘Aesthetics can affect ethics themselves.
infrastructure | Gerardo K´ulej
Sculpture, brick, metal, stone, and wood
70x60x15 cm
2024
The walls of our houses protect us from the outside to keep us comfortable within them, the walls that isolate us from our neighbors, and the walls that create boundaries between borders. Ironically, in this temporality, they are made of the same material (concrete-metal). The way we have modified the materiality of our environment through metal and concrete infrastructure versus the natural world, with new community architectures (perhaps an acquired taste from the outside), creates an imbalance between nature and the acceleration of acquiring goods at the expense of exchanging natural resources for money. We are a reflection of the acceleration of mobility in foreign spaces; we are part of that global balance.
We were migrants | Martha López
book
22x14 cm
2018
I am Martha. In 2007, I decided to migrate to the United States with my husband due to a lack of resources. We managed to arrive in Daytona Beach, and thus began my life working as a migrant. In 2009, I had my son and continued working for a while, until we decided to return with my husband and son. Now I am here working as a photographer.
I have the freedom | Martha López
Photography
2021
These are the types of clothing I use for different activities. When I go to Chamula, I wear the nagua, and when I visit Tenejapa, I wear the nagua from there.
We were left feeling sad | Andrea López
Book
22x14 cm
2018
When I was three and a half years old, my mom migrated to the United States and left me with my grandmother. I grew up with my grandparents until my parents returned. I completed elementary school feeling that my grandparents were like my parents, even though I had my biological parents. I turned 18, and now I have traveled to Mazatlán, Sinaloa, where I have been living for a year to work and move forward. This is my story again, far from my family.
Untitled | Andrea López
digital photography
2018
Portrait of Andrea, who now has to be a migrant working far from her family.
Bu oyukutik (Where we live) | Ezequiel Ton
Pine tree mounted on concrete with an old loom
90 x 40 50 cm
2024
It is a piece with a base made of concrete with a toj/ocote tree.
It is a metaphor for how we adapt as bodies/nature in concrete spaces, such as cities and the spaces where we live. The old loom at the base of the tree represents a space of memory of who we are, what is in our roots, what is not always visible but is always there and remains as people belonging to indigenous communities.
Weaving of drunkenness | Darwin Cruz
Assembly, cans, fabric
95 x 83 cm
2024
Migration, as an effect of globalization in Maya communities, has transformed thinking; traditional clothing is being displaced by Western garments, driven by the so-called ‘privilege of consumerism and capitalism,’ subject to colonial codes that manipulate the minds of those outside the first world.
Currently, the propaganda of ‘success-acceptance’ is closely linked to ‘looking good,’ a condition that promotes the displacement of traditional clothing in favor of those created by large industries that pollute water and exploit labor to produce their goods. These same industries appropriate the textiles of indigenous peoples to commercialize and strip away the communal sense, symbolic value, historical, and aesthetic significance.
Construction labor in the USA | P. T’ul Gómez
Acrylic on canvas
61x76 cm
2024
In this piece, there is a hand that performs all the work. Being undocumented means providing labor that makes the city function. The undocumented worker is involved in constructing housing, which incorporates a lot of geometry. The diversion of water is highly studied, and I am very surprised by the decoration. Stones are used extensively here, and I am amazed that the wood supports all that weight.
The lord of the earth | P. T’ul Gómez
Acrylic on canvas
40x50 cm
2024
When I am with my family in Larrainzar, they have a different relationship with the land. It is said that every hill has an owner, where springs are born, and there is communication with the springs. Upon arriving here, it is another culture, more focused on construction work, and one forgets for a while what their roots are
Laj yik’ik’un sutel ta jlumal (¡They sent me back home!) | SäsäkNichim Martínez y Abraham Gómez
Digital, Cotton paper print
3.10 metros
2024
Many Tsotsiles, primarily from Chamula, have migrated for more than three or four decades. This collection of images shows the work life, daily life, and moments of recreation of two young Tsotsile migrants. There are even images from inside prisons in the USA. As it is well known, some migrants have lost their lives during their migration journey, others have been deported once they reached their destination, and some have died while migrating, far from the land where they were born. Some of them have had the opportunity for their bodies to return to their homeland. Similarly, those who, after spending more than one or two decades living as migrants and are deported back to their country of origin, can no longer adapt to their homeland, falling into depression, alcoholism, and deterioration of their lives until they pass away. This collection of images honors the lives of Tsotsile migrants who, due to the necessity of migrating in search of other life opportunities, were returned to their homeland, either alive or deceased.
Amulets 1 | SäsäkNichim Martínez y Abraham Gómez
Digital, Cotton paper print
12x16 pulgadas
Amulets 2 | SäsäkNichim Martínez y Abraham Gómez
Digital, Cotton paper print
12x16 pulgadas
The photos ‘Amulet One’ and ‘Amulet Two’ show a protective amulet for small children. The father, who will migrate or be absent for a long time away from his children, will create a bracelet using the blue threads from the mother’s nagua to tie around the child’s left hands and feet. This is intended to help the children miss their father less during his absence, so they do not become ill from sadness. Additionally, a red thread represents the protection of the children
Migrants’ Voices| Saúl Kak
Video
3:43 minutos
https://youtu.be/TzzBuKRzeqg?si=2qDKdkHbEZlVQAJK
2012
In this video, you hear the testimonies of several people from different nationalities who, while passing through Mexico on their way to the U.S., arrive at the La 72 shelter. There, they find shelter, food, and support for their human rights. They stay temporarily while a train, popularly known as ‘La Bestia,’ passes by, and then continue their journey.
of indigenous appearance | Xun Sero
Video
4:20 minutos
https://vimeo.com/945053560/d3472aa478
A story of a migrant man who suffers from prejudice and suspicion in the United States.
Sts’ak kuxlejal- Limits of life | Humberto Gómez Pérez
6:00 minutos
Experimental, Tsotsil/inglés/ español
2024
Voices in your head fill you with dreams, reinforcing the idea that the American Dream is the only solution. Your surroundings confirm this: enormous houses, shiny cars, as if material wealth were the most important thing. You seek support in your faith, hoping it will guide you and show you the path to the success you long for. But in the end, you live in uncertainty