San Cristóbal de Las Casas. Chiapas, México
Artists from the Maya and Zoque towns of Chiapas, using contemporary media such as painting, installation, and video, present recent works on the theme of earthquakes and the material, socio-cultural, and spiritual reconstruction, from the perspective of the indigenous peoples of Mexico.
The title in Tsotsil, “Jna’tik Jnatik,” means “We miss our homes”; reflecting the idea of thinking about housing and the relationship with Mother Earth.
With this exhibition of artistic creations, with dynamic practices, Galería MUY brings to Mexico City the results of several months of practice: The artists responded to the natural disaster – the earthquake of September 7 – by creating works reflecting on the origins of earthquakes, and with a relational art practice, now continued in Mexico City, in the form of workshops and murals in the affected communities.
The four lead artists conducting the workshops and welcoming visitors to the exhibit in Corpus Christi are:
Antún Kojtom (Tenejapa, 1969), master of painting and muralism
Maruch Méndez (Chamula, 1957), installation and traditional performance artist
Saúl Kak (Rayón, 1985), renowned filmmaker and painter
Gerardo K’ulej (Huixtán, 1988), talented sculptor and painter
And they represent other Maya artists, whose works are included in this exhibition (listed below).
By sharing the Jna’tik Jnatik project in Mexico City, the place of the “twin” earthquake of September 19, the sensitivities and need to discover the record of earthquakes in the consciousness of many was even further opened. It is changing the consciousness of Mexican society, inspiring us all to rebuild – better – our society, our material and emotional family home. And of course, from the indigenous perspective, communal reconstruction is privileged, with a focus on the relationship with “Mother Earth.” This is what Jna’tik Jnatik is about.
Symbolically, the invited Maya and Zoque artists at the Corpus Christi venue occupy it by extending their mural canvases on the 18th-century baroque building. Or they “reoccupy” it because the Corpus Christi convent was the first for “noble indigenous women” and now noble women and men of heart, indigenous in essence, return. Maruch Méndez, j’ilol shaman, and ceramic artist, will dedicate a welcoming ritual to the space for the use of the Jna’tik Jnatik project with a traditional Chamula performance-ceremony.
Méndez presents an installation with terracotta figures in a narrative configuration about the goddess of the earth and the origin of earthquakes in its own movement.
In painting, Antún Kojtom, Saúl Kak, and Gerardo K’ulej introduce narratives through symbols of Maya-Zoque animist knowledge of deities and the world. Their works clearly reference the distinctive mural tradition in rural Chiapas today and historically throughout Mexico.
A video by Saúl Kak about the earthquake and Maya-Zoque art is presented in the main hall of Corpus Christi. With a long-standing practice in the video medium, and works in documentary, docufiction, and video art forms, Kak presents here a piece that employs resistance video mechanisms, interweaving the performative actions of the artists with testimonies of the earthquake’s impacts.
This exhibition presents works of art by:
Antún Kojtom (painter, muralist, printmaker)
Saúl Kak (painter, videographer, performer)
Maruch Méndez (installation artist, performer)
Gerardo K’ulej (sculptor and painter)
Juan Chawuk (painter, sculptor, performer)
Dyg’nojoch (painter, urban artist)
Darwin Cruz (painter)
Carlos de La Cruz (painter)
Raymundo López (painter)
Manuel Guzmán (painter)
Maruch Sántiz (photographer)
In general, it is noteworthy that contemporary art produced by creators from the indigenous towns of Chiapas shows a multicultural uninhibitedness, genius in the handling of collective symbols, and technical flight, positioning this regional-ethnic school in an increasingly appreciated place within contemporary Mexican art and the “fourth world.”
The context for its aesthetic interpretation is the decolonization of our time, enriched by the contribution of the Zapatistas and Chiapas in general. The recovery of collective tradition and memory in figurative language by artists (both academically trained and self-taught) is an act of cultural empowerment. Additionally, there is the sometimes ironic critique of the folklorization of their culture.
Above all, these works show the transformation of traditional memes into narrative constructions of today’s life. They use languages of abstraction, surrealism, and supra-realism, and new media (installation, video, performance, and multidisciplinary approaches). They also display the “g-local” perspective particular to the Maya-Zoque peoples, intellectuals, and artists, universally relevant and appreciable.
What are the roles and functions of the indigenous artist today? Something between healer-prayer, moral leader, party clown, transgressor, visionary. These are the emerging roles within communities. On the outside, they include: representative, interpreter, provocateur, and communicator linking all other artists in the country and world with the general public.
Thus, this artistic project takes from indigenous cultures the prioritization of the process and relational aspects. The creative process is not hidden; it is shared publicly. The importance of the “art object” is displaced toward the relationship with the observer. And Chiapas artists often make them participants in one way or another, as co-producers and interlocutors. This is the logic of including workshops and roundtables in this artistic project.
Among the artists of the earthquake project (Jna’tik Jnatik: We Miss Our Homes), they all agree that the earth has its guardians, owners, or representatives, and that it is Mother Earth. They consider, from the Maya and Zoque worldview, that Mother Earth is upheld by four gods, and that earthquakes are related to the relationship between human beings and Mother Earth and the gods who sustain it.
These artists are associated with the artistic project of Galería MUY, where they have shown their works in several exhibitions and reflections on contemporary indigenous art in Chiapas.
“Artivist” Project
In this multimedia project, the functions of art/artist in the sociopolitical context defined by the natural and social disaster of the earthquake are explored.
It consists of two videos, four workshops, and a collection of artifacts related to the interventions of artists Antún Kojtom, Saúl Kak, and Gerardo K’ulej, in civil society actions for post-earthquake reconstruction in Chiapas.
It refers to the conceptualization and realization of an artistic workshop for people affected by the earthquake in the municipality of Jiquipilas, and the creation of a commemorative mural of the local earthquake damage in the municipality of Villaflores. The two actions were collectively carried out by Kojtom, Kak, and K’ulej. Finally, this “artivist” project includes the creation of five murals painted in black and white on the interior walls of Galería MUY in San Cristóbal de Las Casas with designs by Antún Kojtom and details made by the rest of the artists in this exhibition and others, as a backdrop for a celebration of All Saints, including the remembrance of the earthquake.
