A photo and textile exhibit by artist Maruch Santíz Gómez offers a uniquely intimate portrait of daily life and traditional beliefs and practices of her people, the Tzotzil Maya.
OREM — A pair of chicken feet, fingers weaving wool, a spindle lying in the dirt, a handful of tortillas cooking on a comal.
Santíz has dedicated her life to preserving the wisdom, symbology, language and weaving of the Tzotzil Mayan. The ethnic group is indigenous to the central highlands of Chiapas, Mexico — a place covered by forests and blanketed with humidity. Archeological sites dot the area, pointing to its deep and rich Mayan ties that are still alive through the state's Indigenous communities.
"We want to break that with allowing the community to build the exhibit," she said. "This is an exhibit for all, by all." "You have 18 shots. If one comes out good, you stay in the program,'" she remembers a volunteer telling her in 1993 before sending her to the streets of San Cristobal de las Casas with a camera. "And when they developed the film roll, there was one image that came out that the volunteers told me, 'Yes, we can tell taking photos is something you want to do.'"
"I think this work and the reach it's had has served to show young people that we value our culture, our way of speaking, our way of dressing and our communication — which is not something that we saw before," she said. "They call us natives or Indigenous people and sometimes that comes with discrimination. But no, a lot of us have fought and been an example so that new generations learn.
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