The universe of Mexican masks is so rich and complex that it has always aroused interest among locals and strangers. In the midst of a pandemic, the Fomento Cultural Banamex institution in Mexico City organized the exhibition "Behind a mask" with the works of the masters Jacobo Ángeles and María Mendoza, from the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, and in particular from the community of San Martín Tilcajete. The exhibition was mounted in Mérida, Yucatán, at the Casa de Cultura Citibanamex - Casa Montejo Museum.
Thirty-six pieces made of copal wood, carved and colored with acrylics -they also do it with natural dyes- and with gold and silver leaves. The exhibition is enriched with six large intervened photographs. With their own identity, both creators are based on Mixtec and Zapotec symbols to create unique pieces, full of magic, art and mystery. The exhibition "Behind a Mask" brings together a selection of works -masks and tonas- that allude to a mythological tradition of Zapotec heritage. The tonas are the mythical and protective animals that represent the different days of the Zapotec calendar: power animals (jaguar, eagle, snake), teaching (iguana, chameleon, opossum), movement (butterfly, deer, rabbit) and healing (owl), among others. Each person of Zapotec roots has his tona; it shares destiny and soul with it, and is chosen by the date of his birth.
The marriage of artisans settled in Oaxaca has achieved international recognition for their artisan pieces; masks used in carnival celebrations, tonas and nahuals. The nahual, protective spirit of human beings, has the shape of an animal and the crafts that represent them are known as alebrijes. "All these creatures sleep patiently inside the trees, waiting for the artisans to arrive to wake them up" -the authors say. Through carving, hidden figures appear in the wood of the nopal.
The Angeles Mendoza family has an important workshop where a group of a dozen creative collaborators from the towns near San Martín Tilcajete work, with whom they have created a working community. In addition, they carry out one of their great dreams, a School of Arts and Crafts, where they teach wood carving, ceramics, painting, traditional Oaxacan cuisine, sculpture, jewelry and engraving. An enormous challenge that also takes care of the local environment, especially preserving the copal tree (bursera bipinnata), from which the raw material for its creations comes.
To learn more about his works and the exhibition "Behind a mask", we invite you to enjoy the following video
Reference Bibliography:
AAVV: Grandes maestros del arte popular de Oaxaca. México. Fomento Cultural Banamex.
AAVV: Grandes maestros del arte popular de Iberoamérica. México. Fomento Cultural Banamex. 2011.
AAVV: Grandes maestros del arte popular mexicano. Colección Fomento Cultural Banamex. 20 años. México. Fomento Cultural Banamex. 2020.
Catálogo "Detrás de una Máscara. Carnaval de Tilcajeta". Oaxaca. Edición del autor. 2019.
Hartmut Zantke: Alebrijes. Obras Maestras de escultores y pintores mexicanos. Alemania. Sozialkartei-Verlag. 2011.
Hartmut Zantke: Alebrijes 2. Obras Maestras de Jacobo y María Ángeles. Alemania. Sozialkartei-Verlag. 2012.
Hartmut Zantke: Alebrijes 3. Obras Maestras de Jacobo y María Ángeles. Alemania. Sozialkartei-Verlag. 2015.
(Images: Gentileza Jacobo y María Ángeles, y Fomento Cultural Banamex)