The exhibition ‘Women of Clay’ is an exploration of the work of two women with many years of experience in the production of the culture of their communities. Today, these two Chiapanecan artists share with us their pottery figures, infused with the ancestral Maya tradition. Feliciana Ramírez Díaz (Amatenango del Valle) and Maruch Méndez Pérez (San Juan Chamula) accepted the invitation from the Galería MUY to interpret their traditions in a free and expressive manner through the material of the earth, each from her own perspective.

Feliciana Ramírez has shaped pieces that honor nature and the mythical relationship of interconnection between humans and the earth. Doña Feliciana is the matriarch of one of the most recognized and awarded families for their craftsmanship in the town of Amatenango.

The tradition of this Tseltal town dates back to ancient and even mythical times. The potters from this municipality, known for its famous white clay, have supplied many communities in the Highlands of Chiapas with water containers, griddles, dishes, pots, and other useful objects, taking it as their responsibility and the main service of Amatenango to other indigenous peoples. In the artistic work of teacher Feliciana, exhibited for the first time at the Galería MUY, we can appreciate the ancestral continuity of making objects. But in some way, these pieces represent a rupture: from the domestic-use pot, it transforms into the marvelous craft of Amatenango’s jaguars, and now, it turns the material into unique artistic pieces, as imagination takes flight and creates human figures, mixed with their nahuales, organic and almost abstract forms, which simultaneously symbolize narratives of profound cultural significance.

Even though Feliciana Ramírez executes this figurative artistic liberation, she chooses to maintain a utilitarian-poetic element: most of the pieces serve as candlesticks. These candles, in addition to illuminating the room, highlight the mystery and beauty of the pieces, integrating them as a fundamental part of them. They are ‘living works’ produced by the artist’s hand and spirit.

Maruch Méndez Pérez (K’atixtik, Chamula; 1957) is a natural artist, as her ideas arise from her soul and Tsotsil-Maya culture. In her youth, she spent six years living in the forest – ‘my school,’ she says – and then assumed the role of a mother-provider for four sons and two daughters. She was called as a j’ilol (healer) and later as a religious authority. Her art recreates her self-sufficient way of life in all aspects. Her knowledge of mythical, legendary, and historical wisdom has gone beyond her town in the form of prayer-songs thanks to her participation in the Leñateros Workshop and her manual creativity in everything she touches, whether it’s wool thread, handmade paper, decorated crosses, the fire of the comal, or clay. She has been invited to perform in Mexico City; San Antonio, Texas; and Paris, France. In 2002, Maruch Méndez revived the old and almost extinct Chamula tradition of molding domestic objects from clay, baked in a wood stove, to transform the earth into figures that reflect the imagination of her ancestors and her own life. Since then, she has perfected a personalized style of great simplicity and depth. She does not call herself an ‘artist’ to this day; art emanates from her gestures, her laughter, her storytelling, her plastic creation, and fundamentally in the creation of her artistic installations.

Maruch Méndez revived the old and almost extinct Chamula tradition of molding domestic objects from clay, baked in a wood stove, to transform the earth into figures that reflect the imagination of her ancestors and her own life. Unlike the ceramic dolls dressed in used clothing that are commonly sold on the streets of San Cristóbal, the teacher chose to enlarge the figures and reproduce them in quantities that, when placed in dialogue with the elements of nature from the Chamula territory, impact and transport us to another world, in which Maruch is the guide.