Galería MUY is pleased to present the exhibition curated by Manuel Chavajay (San Pedro de la Laguna, Sololá, Guatemala; 1982), a creator who merges and brings into dialogue the languages of contemporary art with the tradition and aesthetics of his Tz’utujil-Maya people. Chavajay is globally recognized and locally engaged in a practice of socially rooted art. With this exhibition, we affirm that the local is global, and that Maya cultures transcend borders between our two countries, Mexico and Guatemala.

“For us, the sacred is to be respected, and we would never think of altering or changing its function, because our bodies were formed from corn, and in every family, corn is another member.
We accompany it through the moons of its planting until the harvest.
From there, we select our next seeds—along with the strength and ancestral wisdom of its many forms of preparation, the plant as construction material and medicine.

Nopal: the sacred plant that has become emblematic and is part of Mexican families, whether in medicine, dye, or cuisine.

Corn and Nopal are who we are—invaded, tortured, pillaged—yet still standing in the face of new multinational projects and monopolistic systems.
Our languages, of course, cannot be translated—only interpreted—in the same way that the complexity of what the SACRED means to us will never be understood.”

XAJANIIL’ IXIIM, XAJANIIL PETOK OQ K’O PA K’AYEWAAL’
(The Corn has been hurt, the Nopal has been hurt, and this is part of the market)

Corn is our life—it is the root of our ancestors’ breath, it is sacred corn, sun and knowledge, our grandmother’s path of life.
When we plant the corn, we place our heart in the ground, trusting in the earth’s good intentions.

Our elders’ wise words and deep thoughts remain as lessons in front of us, not so we can commercialize our heritage, but so we can stop the faces of those who profit
from our sacred land.

August 2019