San Cristóbal de Las Casas. Chiapas, México
Abraham Gómez, Antún Kojtom, Darwin Cruz, Genaro Sántiz, Juan Chawuk, Julieta Gómez, Manuel Guzmán, Maruch Méndez, PH Joel, Säsäknichim Martínez and Xun Betan.
This exhibition brings together works by Maya artists exploring different perspectives and experiences we have regarding nudity, from our position in society, also considering gender diversity. The theme of nudity in the art production of indigenous peoples is not new, but much of that production was scattered and in many cases hidden in the depths of workshops or places where artists live, for fear of being judged by contemporary society that defines what we should express and represent based on stereotypes.
Although this initiative began as a joke and with some drinks by PH Joel and Abraham Gómez, we are aware that our history has been mutilated and fragmented. Now that we are part of a contemporary context of accelerated change, we find it indispensable to expose our views and reflections on the theme addressed in this exhibition, since the naked body is part of our rituals, poems, our way of perceiving and naming the natural environment.
A constant in the works of the artists is the relationship between the human body and nature, whether by anthropomorphizing flowers, branches, etc., merging the body with nature, or taking natural elements like earth, soot from the comal, and water to perceive them as a second skin that protects and purifies.
It is necessary to clarify that, although there are contemporary indigenous artists who give an erotic touch to nudity, it is not limited to that, as the naked body is also present in the daily life of the peoples, in more intimate cases, the nudity of the body is linked to a spiritual/dreamlike sense as a means of approaching deities or seeking healing, or even as a tool for political protest.
This exhibition is just a provocation for dialogue and reflection to see beyond nudity as an object of voyeurism, as it is more restricted in the urban context compared to the Maya and Zoque cultures.
PH Joel and Abraham Gómez
March 2024
Artworks
Mixik’ (Belly button) | Säsäknichim Martínez
Digital photography
60 x 40 cm
2024
The “faja” refers to the umbilical cord, which, a few days after birth, is cut from both girls and boys, and then the umbilical cord is hung on a peach or avocado tree so that they can forge their path in life while staying rooted to their family and territory. No matter how far we walk or how much we transcend in our personal lives, we will always return to the place where our umbilical cord was held.
Jme'tik xChel (Grandma xChel) | Säsäknichim Martínez
Digital photography
40 x 60 cm
2024
The woman and the water. During my childhood, I grew up seeing many women washing their hair and clothes in springs and water sources. During the washing hours, they could walk without blouses, with their breasts exposed; there was no lewdness or eroticism associated with it. The exposed part of their bodies was simply part of the daily, intimate, communal life. Jme’tik xChel is the name of a sacred place where abundant water flows in Huixtán. This image represents two essential components that sustain life.
Also | Julieta Gómez
Digital photography
40 x 60 cm
2024
The body is not just a body; it represents life, dreams, fears, memories, and suffering. It also represents the connection we have with nature, the escape we find in it, how we get covered in the earth and embrace plants and trees as part of ourselves, remembering our origins, which will also be our final resting place until we must return.
Also | Julieta Gómez
Digital photography
40 x 60 cm
2023
The body is not just a body; it represents life, dreams, fears, memories, and suffering. It also represents the connection we have with nature, the escape we find in it, how we get covered in the earth and embrace plants and trees as part of ourselves, remembering our origins, which will also be our final resting place until we must return.
Also | Julieta Gómez
Digital photography
60 x 40 cm
2024
The body is not just a body; it represents life, dreams, fears, memories, and suffering. It also represents the connection we have with nature, the escape we find in it, how we get covered in earth and embrace plants and trees as part of ourselves, remembering our origins, which will also be our final resting place until we have to return.
Alah mut (Birdie) | Antún Kojtom
Oil on paper
17 x 13 cm
2024
Little boys (2 to 6) are sometimes kidded “I’m going to eat your little bird,” and play-massage almost erect. Within families, it is not considered morbid or taboo, but is normal among parents.
Bird tamer | Antún Kojtom
Oil on paper
32.5cm x 26
2024
Bird Tamer is a work that represents puberty, a time in the villages or rural areas where information about sexuality is scarce. It’s where adolescents discover it intuitively through discreet conversations between adults and nature. The birds represent how mothers play with their children’s genitals, especially from newborns to age 6. They would say “a lah mut,” “a lah muts,” because diapers weren’t used at one time, so they were naturally wrapped in rags.
Mah ts'iukat (Don't be a dog) | Antún Kojtom
Óleo sobre papel
17 x 13 cm
2024
Mah ts’iukat (Don’t be a dog) refers to young people who begin to engage in abnormal conversation, especially when they speak carelessly about their relationships, their desires, or some explicit expression of sexuality. To silence them, the words in the play’s title are used, and within the representation of the mutt, it is commonly used to describe people who have no shame, no discretion in their disobedient and flirtatious words. The play also represents the flirting of the bones of politics.
Bone masturbator | Antún Kojtom
Oil on paper
17 x 13 cm
2024
Bone Masturbator is a political allegory inspired by the village party movement, also known as “chaqueteros.” It’s about pseudo-leaders who buy and sell community votes by aligning themselves with a party, losing all sense of honesty. Among Tseltal families, they compare it to the image of a mutt.
Offering to creativity | PH Joel
Hand-carved wooden cell phone
26 x 13.5 cm
2018
The wallpaper on this wood-carved cell phone is a self-portrait of the artist, capturing the act of masturbation as part of the creative process, alluding to the ritual of self-sacrifice and genital mutilation recorded in murals in San Bartolo, Guatemala, as well as other examples of self-sacrifice in Yaxchilán.
Obsession | Abraham Gómez
Digital photography
60 X 40 cm
2013
In my mind and body I have many erotic desires, which cannot be talked about or taught, because that is how we were taught.
Purification | Abraham Gómez
Digital photography
60 x 40 cm
2018
When my body and soul are tired or hurt, they need to be purified and healed.
Pain | Abraham Gómez
Digital photography
40 x 60 cm
2013
The glances and gossip of people are what hurt our soul, and our body weakens.
Wish of a god | Abraham Gómez
Digital photography
23 x 35 cm
2013
Umbilical Red Passion | Juan Chawuk
Amate paper, earth, and pencil.
240 x 120 cm
2024
The idea is to maintain a legacy of that fusion that exists between the original sculpture and the standing figure; they coexist in a hermetic relationship. The two are located at the central point of the genitals, where the procreation of contemporary ideologies takes us back to encounters in the past, to analyze sexuality and thus create a conjecture about the practices of the LGBT movement.
Árbol de manzano
Xun Betan
La helada del invierno
trajo entre sus piernas
las flores blancas y rojas
del árbol de manzano.
Atractivas flores
jugosas para las abejas
en cada aleteo
toca el cuerpo erecto
de los pistilos coloridos.
Sudorosas manzanas
fruto desnudo de la vida
el deseo fugaz
de algún enamorado.
La última noche
Xun Betan
Tus manos
las vi pasar
en la última fiesta de mi cuerpo.
Tus labios
sorbían la última gota del aguardiente
que se deslizaba entre mis piernas.
La última noche
soñé tus brazos
los mismos que desgarraron mi corazón.
Y poco a poco
murieron mis palabras
sobre tu piel, en la penumbra de las velas.
Adán
Xun Betan
No hubo manzanas en el paraíso
en el sonoro tropical del Edén
crecían plátanos y cocos
uno blando y otro duro
para cada enfermedad, un remedio.
En el caluroso clima
Adán envuelto entre hojas
desgaja el fruto prohibido
para aligerar sus deseos.
En las noches iluminadas
la tribu de varones
pescan jadeantes
entre las olas del mar.
Hombres en el Edén
Xun Betan
La fiesta en la milpa ha comenzado
como en el río los pescadores,
los milperos llegan con bolsas y costales
a deshojar las mazorcas del maíz.
Llenan sus redes de galanas mazorcas relucientes,
entre el sudor de cada varón
un agasajo entre los maizales.
Como la fiesta en el Edén
comen y beben tostadas y café.
Y bajo los reflejos de la luna
comienza el gozo sobre los petates.