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Mexican art for the past and present

Written by Elllie Little
Thursday, 18 December 2008 00:00

In Mexico, there is a diverse range of indigenous peoples. It has the largest indigenous population of all Latin American countries, including approximately ten million people or 10% of the population. Of all the indigenous cultures surviving in Mexico today, although not the most numerous, the Huichols have been described as the purest surviving example of pre-Hispanic culture in Mexico. In their own language, they are called Wixarika which means “the healers”. The Huichol Indians have strong traditions of art and mysticism. Their art traditionally forms part of their spirituality and an expression of communication with the divine.

As globalisation encroaches into every part of the world, its effect on the hidden corners of the earth are profound. The dominant global model is indiscriminate in its quest for profit, growth and economic stability. It is not that it is personal; it is just that it does not see or value the wisdom of ancient and rare cultures. The issue of cultural survival is an immediate one for the Huichol Indians and through their art they are able to challenge the notion that their culture has become redundant. Through their art, they have a voice that speaks to the world about where they come from and who they are.

These cultures offer us a glimpse into the past and, in the case of the Huichol, this is even more accessible as they document their culture for all to see in the form of yarn paintings and beaded sculptures. These yarn paintings tell a story and they urge us to not just to support the culture economically by purchasing the art, but also to try to understand and value it.

Yarn paintings are elaborate creations made with coloured yarn set in bees wax on a wooden surface and are incredibly intricate and skilled constructions. The paintings document creation stories, myths, ancestors and characters from the spiritual world to represent the world that the Huichol people inhabit. The variety of stories captured in a yarn painting is wide, but commonly you will find imagery representing the sacred deer, corn, the cycles of life, the shaman communicating with the gods and peyote.

Of all their pre-Hispanic customs, it is the religious use of peyote that has predominantly fascinated outsiders. Peyote is a hallucinogenic cactus native to the deserts of San Luis Potosi in Zacatecas. Although the Huichol have gained a cult-like status among the alternative circles born of the LSD years of flower power and Hippie revolution, they have strongly resisted outsiders coming to them seeking a spiritual experience through the medium of their revered peyote or Hikuri, as it is known in the Huichol language.

Still, one cannot discuss Huichol art and culture without making reference to the peyote plant, as it is portrayed again and again in the art. It is a source of artistic inspiration to the people and its significance stretches into so many aspects of Huichol life. Visions from the peyote experience are incorporated in Huichol art; in fact, women feel it is their duty to record the visions in their weaving and embroidery designs. In an interview with an artist I asked:

Q. “Do the symbols on these bags have significant meanings?”

A. “Yes. All the bags hold meaning; they represent the dreams and visions of the women. It is only the women who do this work, who do the weaving. They do it to record their dreams, because they feel they have a responsibility to record the visions they receive from their dreams and when they eat peyote.” (Interview, male Huichol artist, May 2004)

Huichol artwork reflects the omnipresence of peyote in their society; their artistic style combines bright colour combinations and geometric designs suggestive of hallucinatory imagery. In the Huichol perspective, human society is embedded in a larger cosmic society; peyote is the channel through which they can commune with this important spiritual dimension of their existence.

Huichol art consists of a broad range of different expressions and forms which include weaving, embroidery and finely-woven beaded jewellery. Even beyond jewellery, the use of beads in their art is extensive. Beads are used to decorate a number of things, most prominently gourd bowls, wooden, carved animals and boxes.

Traditionally, Huichol art originates from the realm of religious prayer offerings, ceremonial paraphernalia, traditional dress and body art. Today, this form of art still exists, but added to it is a wide range of artwork destined for the market, sold in order to provide a much-needed income. Art and its sale has become an essential source of income for a people who have found their old ways of life eroded. Gone are the patterns of encapsulated subsistence agriculture which had been at the heart of the old, self-sufficient community structure. Economic acculturation of the communities has been very gradual, beginning long ago with the arrival of the Spanish, later the adoption of cattle, commercial muslins, and other commercial goods. The remote location of their homelands has offered them a huge degree of protection from outsiders, although today, roads and small airports have been able to infiltrate the rugged mountains. The biggest problem facing the people is the lack of access to arable land and the poverty that this causes; without sustainable food supplies, the need to bring in an income is paramount. Many are therefore forced to leave their homelands to find work, but they are often exploited as workers. Many are forced to find employment on the tobacco plantations, which are notoriously difficult and dangerous places to work.

There is a concern that the art has thus become utilised and developed away from the sacred domain from which it once originated. Some feel that commercial arts and crafts are contrary to traditional Huichol values because they don’t serve the purposes of traditional art. As such, commercial artistic development can be seen as a symptom of the crumbling of traditional Huichol society. The society is under incredible threat, but it is not automatically correct to consider changes in indigenous culture as indicative of assimilation and obliteration of tradition. The sale of artwork commercially is a reflection of cultural adaptation in the face of social changes and economic pressures. Still, the Huichol are vulnerable and, although the development of the art for commercial sale is necessary and a blessing for many, they are dependent on a market that is changeable and often times exploitative. Art alone isn’t enough to solve the problem of very real suffering that poverty brings.

The fact that this art represents values of an actual surviving indigenous Mexican culture is one of the principal reasons behind its commercial success. Buyers are interested in purchasing arts representing an authentic culture. Local Mexican people are also attracted to Huichol art because, as well as being very beautiful, it is seen as representative of Mexico’s indigenous, cultural heritage. The government has often showcased Huichol art for the very reason that it is a proud declaration of cultural diversity. In 1997, Mota Apohua, a Huichol artist, was commissioned to do a gigantic mural for the entrance to the Palais Royal-Musee du Louvre Metro Station in Paris which was to be a gift, in effect, from Mexico to France. Most of the balance of 450,000 pesos ($33,371 US) signed for by contract has still not been paid to the artist . Such is the contradictory relationship between the Mexican Government and the country’s indigenous population.

Among the Huichol, there is the shared notion that they are guardians of the earth. They consider it absolutely crucial to maintain their ceremonies. If not, they believe that they could not survive; indeed, that the very world would not survive. The following extract from an interview with Huichol schoolteacher, Auxreme Candelario, expands on this topic:

Q. “What do you think about the idea that the world would come to an end if you, the Huichol, do not carry out your rituals and ceremonies?”

A. “As human beings, we depend on the earth; we have to take care of it if it is to survive. Without the rains, clean water and fertile soil, human beings could not survive for very long. Across the world there are peoples who hold similar ideas to the Wixarica [Huichol], the Maori in New Zealand, for example, or the North American Indians and, although we may not know each other directly, we are linked.

In this world, there are many people who, in the name of peace, create weapons and wars. Many people die in order to defend humanity and lands. But there are also other people who work towards a spiritual balance. This means giving thanks to the earth, taking care of it. And so every year the Wixarica people say thank you and pray for balance, not just for us, but for the whole world. If we neglect the earth then yes, I think that it is quite possible that things would not survive. It is logical. But a mara’kame [shaman] would not explain it to you like this; he would explain it in spiritual, mythological terms. But, I have travelled and seen the world outside the Wixarica one, and this is how I understand it to be.”

Perhaps it is the values of the Huichol culture, their appreciation of the spiritual dimension of man and of the earth we inhabit that make them so fascinating. As we move into an era of increased ecological awareness, the teachings of a culture that has often been looked down upon as “primitive” or outdated have never been so relevant or held such poignancy

Images: Kevin Simpson