Opposite Santo Domingo, a bolero (shoeshiner) walks up Macedonio Alcalá to work…
As the faces on the wall cry out, “Because we people of Oaxaca have memory and dignity, we demand justice” for the missing Ayotzinapa 43 normalistas (student teachers).
Posts Tagged ‘Ayotzinapa’
Going to work
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Protests, Tragedy, Travel & Tourism, Violence, tagged Ayotzinapa, Black and white photography, bolero, disappeared, Mexico, normalistas, Oaxaca, photos, protest stencil art, shoeshiner, stencils, street art, student teachers, Subterráneos Art Collective, urban art, wall art on October 7, 2021| 4 Comments »
2019 through the rear view mirror
Posted in Casita Colibrí, Celebrations, Creativity, Culture, Food, Holidays, Travel & Tourism, tagged Ayotzinapa, cactus flowers, candles, cocineras, construction workers, convite, cooking, cooks, Danza de la Pluma, danzantes, Mexico, nacimiento, Nativity scenes, New Year's Eve, Oaxaca, photos, San Juan Guelavía, street art, tamales, Teotitlán del Valle, Tomb 7 treasures on December 31, 2019| 13 Comments »
Looking in the rear view mirror at images from 2019. They bring fond memories of life in Oaxaca — ferias, festivals, food, and friends, not to mention exhibitions, random street scenes, and the unexpected at Casita Colibrí. They were also a reminder of many days and nights spent in Teotitlán del Valle this year.
January – San Juan Guelavía town hall.
February – Wall on Niños Heroes, remembering the Ayotzinapa 43.
March – Cactus flower on the Casita Colibrí terrace.
April – View from a gas station along Carretera Federal 175.
May – Construction assistance from the balcony of Casita Colibrí.
June – The tamales brigade at a 50th birthday fiesta in Teotitlán del Valle.
July – Newly made candles in Teotitlán del Valle.
August – Necklace from Monte Albán Tomb 7 exhibition at the Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca.
September – Convite during the Fiesta a la Natividad de la Virgen María in Teotitlán del Valle.
October – Danza de la Pluma at Fiesta de La Virgen del Rosario in Teotitlán del Valle.
November – Día de Muertos tamales in Teotitlán del Valle.
December – Nacimiento (nativity scene) in the Plaza de la Danza.
Many thanks to all my wonderful blog readers — for reading, for commenting, for sharing, for the opportunity to meet some of you, and for inspiring me to continue blogging from my rooftop terrace in Oaxaca. Wishing you all the very best in 2020!!!
Fifty years ago today…
Posted in Creativity, Culture, History, Politics, Protests, Violence, tagged Ayotzinapa, black power clenched fist, Colin Kaepernick, Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos, graffiti, John Carlos, Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico City Olympics, murals, Oaxaca, Okupa Visual Oaxaca, photos, street art, student teachers, students, Taller de Grafica Experimental de Oaxaca, Tlatelolco Massacre, Tommie Smith, wall art on October 16, 2018| 11 Comments »
It’s been fifty years since two African American US Olympic medalists, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, cast their eyes downward and raised clenched fists on the medals’ stand during the playing of the “Star Spangled Banner” (national anthem of the USA) at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Boos and racial epithets were hurled from the stands, both were kicked off the US team, ordered to leave the Olympic Village, and, upon returning to the USA, they received hate mail, death threats and experienced harassment. However, their gesture became iconic and their stance against racial injustice is celebrated the world over, including Oaxaca.
Taller de Gráfica Experimental de Oaxaca, Calle La Noria at Melchor Ocampo, Oaxaca de Juárez
“I don’t have any misgivings about it being frozen in time. It’s a beacon for a lot of people around the world. So many people find inspiration in that portrait. That’s what I was born for.” –John Carlos (The man who raised a black power salute at the 1968 Olympic Games)
What most of the world didn’t see or hear about — because it was conspicuously absent from the covers of the country’s major newspapers — was that two weeks before, in what came to be known as the Tlatelolco Massacre, somewhere between 300 and 2,000 peacefully protesting students in Mexico City were murdered by Mexican military and police forces.
The echos from 1968 continue today… Colin Kaepernick continues to be castigated and denied employment as an NFL football player for taking a knee during the playing of the “Star Spangled Banner” and 43 student teachers from Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos in Ayotzinapa, whose bus was ambushed in Iguala, Guerrero four years ago, continue to be missing.
Art of social conscience
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Travel & Tourism, tagged Ayotzinapa, corn, graphic arts, La Unión Revolucionaria de Trabajadores del Arte, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, street art, URTARTE, wall art on October 16, 2017| 5 Comments »
URTARTE — La Unión Revolucionaria de Trabajadores del Arte (the Revolutionary Union of Art Workers). You have no doubt seen their work around the city of Oaxaca.
The black and white lines of resistance defending heritage corn from an invasion by the moneyed interests of el norte.
Demanding justice for the 43 student teachers from Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero — still disappeared after three years.
And yesterday I discovered this masterpiece…
Celebrating the creativity, hard work, and dignity of the women and men living in the villages of Oaxaca.
A reminder of the people whose roots run deep into the soil and who make Oaxaca such an exceptional place.
Ayotzinapa, 3 years, no answers
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Politics, Protests, Tragedy, Violence, tagged Ayotzinapa, disappeared, Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos, Espacio Zapata, graphic arts, Guerrero, Iguala, Mexico, murals, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, stencil art, street art, student teachers, wall art on September 26, 2017| 8 Comments »
I can’t believe it has been three years since 43 student teachers went missing one night in Iguala, Guerrero. And, I can’t believe the key questions remain.
Who is responsible? What happened that night? Where are they? Why are there still no answers? How can 43 human beings be disappeared so completely? When will the truth be revealed?
In the midst of our current tragedies, let us not forget the 43 normalistas from Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos, Ayotzinapa, Guerrero.
Three years without answers must seem like an eternity to their families….
Two years and counting…
Posted in Creativity, Culture, People, Politics, Tragedy, Violence, tagged Asaro, Ayotzinapa, Cristian Tomás Colón Garnica, Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos, graphic arts, Iguala, Mexico, normalistas, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, street art, student teachers on September 26, 2016| 2 Comments »
It’s been two years since that tragic night in Iguala, Guerrero when busloads of students (normalistas) from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College were violently attacked. Six students were killed, 25 were injured, and 43 disappeared. It’s been two years of agony for families and friends. It’s been two years of questions and discredited answers for the people of Mexico. And, it’s been two years of artists around the world doing their part to not let us forget.
Images of some of the missing by Asamblea de Artistas Revolucionarios de Oaxaca (ASARO) seen June 18, 2016 on Av. Morelos in Oaxaca, including 18-year old Cristian Tomás Colón Garnica from Tlacolula de Matamoros, Oaxaca.
But not forgotten…
Posted in Creativity, Culture, People, Politics, Tragedy, Travel & Tourism, Violence, tagged 43 students, art, Ayotzinapa, Ayotzinapa Justicia video, commemoration, Cristian Tomás Colón Garnica, Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos, graphic arts, Guerrero, Iguala, normalistas, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, remembrance, student teachers, students Mexico on September 26, 2015| 3 Comments »
It has been one year since 43 normalistas (student teachers) from the Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero were disappeared and several of their fellow students were murdered.
They are still missing and the truth of what happened that horrifying night has yet to be revealed. The question remains, What happened to the 43 Ayotzinapa students?
Cristian Tomás Colón Garnica of Tlacolula de Matamoros, Oaxaca; his 42 fellow students; 215 other Oaxaqueños, and 26,000+ other Mexicans missing since 2006, are not forgotten by their families, their friends, the people of Mexico, and the world.
We don’t have weapons sir! Why are you aiming at us?
— from the above video, narrated (in English) by Lila Downs.
And so, Mexico Marks One Year Since Disappearance of Students…
Missing but not forgotten
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Exhibitions, People, Violence, tagged 43 students, Aldo Gutiérrez Solano, Ayotzinapa, Emmanuel Guzman Sanchez, Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos, Guerrero, Iguala, Mexico, normalistas, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, students, Victor Robinson on July 26, 2015| 6 Comments »
A pause in La Guelaguetza action to remember…
It’s been ten months since that unspeakable night 43 students from the Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos teachers’ college in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero went missing in Iguala. They are not forgotten. On the lower block of the Alcalá, an exhibition of sculptures by two Oaxaqueño sculptures, Victor Robinson and Emmanuel Guzman Sanchez is on display.
One of the pieces, Faltan 43 y Faltamos Más (43 missing and we are missing more) speaks to the 43 students and to the countless others who have disappeared.
Guzman explains, that he feels it is necessary to speak out on social issues. “I’m also installing a piece by the 43 missing normalistas; in this piece we find human remains and missing persons who do not know where they are; others that have been found in mass graves, and a broken country.”
Three other students and three bystanders were killed outright and two dozen people were taken to hospital that horrific night. Today’s CNN Mexico profiles one of the hospitalized students, Aldo Gutiérrez Solano, who remains in a coma. The family must travel seven to eight hours to go from their home in Tultepec, Guerrero to Mexico City to sit at Aldo’s bedside. According to his brother, Ulises, the bullet damaged 65% of his brain and “The prognosis is very bad. Still in that state, is not yet known what will happen, how it will be.” His family hopes for a miracle and that he will awaken to end the nightmare of Iguala.
Posters for Ayotzinapa
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Exhibitions, People, Politics, Tragedy, Violence, tagged art, Ayotzinapa, buildings, Carteles por Ayotzinapa, Damian Kłaczkiewicz, Daniela Diaz, Excuela Normal Rural Raúl Burgos, Francisco Toledo, graphic arts, IAGO, Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca, International Poster Biennial, México fracturado por Ayotzinapa, Mexico, Normal Rural Ayotzinapa, normalistas, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, poster art, student teachers, students on May 26, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Eight months and counting… Tonight, eight months ago, 43 students from the Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos teachers’ college in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero went missing. I am sadly resigned that marking this horrific anniversary has become a regular feature on my blog. As a mother, a guest resident of Mexico, and someone who believes that the peoples of the world deserve social justice, I can’t ignore this tragedy.
I dare you to leave Carteles por Ayotzinapa, the current exhibition at Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca (IAGO), with a dry eye. The 49 posters on display are only a fraction of the over 700 posters submitted to the First International Poster Biennial 2014 Convocation Ayotzinapa, an initiative of Oaxaca’s internationally renown artist, Francisco Toledo. In addition to Mexico, artists from Argentina to Greece; Iran to Lebanon; and Poland to the USA responded to his call, recognizing as Toledo explained, the tragedy of Ayotzinapa has outraged people from beyond the borders of Mexico.
Photo courtesy of Oaxaca Media
Irwin Homero Carreño Garnica, a graphic design student, originally from Ocotlán de Morelos, Oaxaca, was awarded first prize for his heartbreaking work, “México fracturado por Ayotzinapa” (Mexico fractured by Ayotzinapa). As you can see above, it is a map of Mexico in the shape of a skeleton, with a break in the femur, where Ayotzinapa, Guerrero is located. Like the work of the Tlacolulokos, the use of an iconic image (skeleton) and a primary palette of black, white, and greys, increases the emotional impact, much like Picasso’s, “Guernica.”
Second place was won by Damian Kłaczkiewicz (Poland) and third place went to Daniela Diaz (Mexico). The three winning posters will be reproduced for distribution throughout Mexico.
The exhibition runs through June 26, 2015.
Sounds & sights of Oaxaca
Posted in Churches, Creativity, Culture, Health, People, Tragedy, Travel & Tourism, tagged Ayotzinapa, demonstrations, Escuela Normal Rural, graffiti, Guerrero, healthcare, La catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, Leonel Castro Abarca, marmotas, Mexico, monos, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, protests, Santo Domingo de Guzmán, street art, sunset, urban art, workers on January 17, 2015| 2 Comments »
Ahhh, it feels good to be back in the warm and wonderful Oaxaca. There are the sounds… I awake to church bells, followed by the loudspeaker cry of “Gas de Oaxaca” from the propane vendor. Last night, as I was heading to bed, rockets exploded and, just now, the camote man’s steam whistle sounded, announcing tooth-achingly sweetened hot sweet potatoes and bananas. Then there are the sights…
The walls continue to talk… On Thursday, I saw this on Calle Morelos as I walked to the Alcalá and comida with friends. It remembers Leonel Castro Abarca, one of the 43 still-missing students from Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos teachers’ college in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero.
On the way home from comida, I detoured to see what was to be seen on the zócalo. Teacher tents remain pitched around the bandstand, but the walkways were free of ambulantes, and, as always, the Cathedral presided over the scene.
Thursday, the familiar sounds of protest were irresistible. I grabbed my camera and headed out the front gate to see a massive march by healthcare workers on their way to the Plaza de la Danza. To be honest, tubas and cohetes would have had me out the door, too! It was way too quiet in el norte.
And, what can I say about last night’s sunset from the terrace?
Naturally, a marmota and pair of monos were waiting on the plaza in front of Santo Domingo this afternoon, awaiting a bride and groom to emerge. After all, it is Saturday — wedding day in Oaxaca!
I wonder what my ears will hear and my eyes will see, mañana…
Wordless language of dance
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Music, Politics, Protests, Tragedy, tagged Ayotzinapa, dance, Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos, Guerrero, Iguala, Mexico, Normal Rural Ayotzinapa, Oaxaca, Oaxaca Lending Library, Twyla Tharp quote, video on December 7, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Along with blogger buddy Chris, I’ve been immersed in putting together a presentation for the Oaxaca Lending Library on the Danza de la Pluma, as it’s performed in Teotitlán del Valle. On the superficial level, the Danza relates the story of the Conquest. But, as is the genius of art, it reaches into our hearts and souls and explores and communicates the truths we feel.
And so, this brief video from classmates of the 43 missing Ayotzinapa students touched me deeply.
The ballet needs to tell its own story in such a way it can be received without having to be translated into language. –Twyla Tharp
A tipping point?
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Protests, Tragedy, Violence, tagged angular, Ayotzinapa, Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos, Global Day of Action for Ayotzinapa, graffiti, Mexico, Normal Rural Ayotzinapa, normalistas, Oaxaca, Photo Challenge, photographs, photos, protests, street art, wall art on November 24, 2014| 2 Comments »
The 43 students from the Normal Rural Ayotzinapa teachers’ college in Guerrero are still missing. Following Thursday’s Global Day of Action for Ayotzinapa mass demonstrations, “analysts and commentators across the Mexican news media spectrum began speaking of a modern day revolution now brewing in the country.”
A tipping point? I don’t know…
Angular (Street art, Nov. 22, 2014 on a wall in Oaxaca.)
Paint it black
Posted in Celebrations, Education, Holidays, Politics, Protests, Tragedy, Violence, tagged #AccionGlobalporAyotzinapa, #TodosVestidosDeNegro, Ayotzinapa, Día de la Revolución, demonstrations, Global Day of Action for Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, Iguala, Mexico, Normal Rural Ayotzinapa, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, protests, Revolution Day, students on November 20, 2014| 2 Comments »
Today is the 104th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution. However, there is no joy; most of Mexico is in mourning for the missing 43 students and the anger is building. In Mexico City the military parade and celebrations will be moved from the Zócalo to a military installation in the Polanco neighborhood. A mass protest march will replace it.
Zócalo, Oaxaca de Juárez – Nov. 17, 2014
The country’s attention is focused on today’s Global Day of Action for Ayotzinapa. Many will wear black today to mourn the loss of students, journalists, and others to violence in Mexico. It is indeed a global event; Greek students have posted a video in support of the missing students and their families. They will be Standing in Solidarity in Salinas (California) and in at least 115 other cities around the world. And, in Oaxaca, among many other events, at 4 PM there will be a Festival Por la Vida at Santo Domingo, one of 231 actions listed on a Facebook page.
Caravan coming
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Education, Politics, Protests, Tragedy, Violence, tagged Ayotzinapa, Caravana de Ayotzinapa, Democracy Now, demonstrations, graffiti, Guerrero, Iguala, Mexico, Mexico Burns as Outrage over Student Disappearances Sparks Protests Against State-Backed Violence, Normal Rural Ayotzinapa, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, protests, Santo Domingo de Guzmán, sidewalk memorial, signs, students, Teachers on November 16, 2014| 2 Comments »
The headline, Mexico Burns as Outrage over Student Disappearances Sparks Protests Against State-Backed Violence, from the Nov. 13 “Democracy Now” show, is not an overstatement. Yesterday, in front of Santo Domingo…
The Caravana de Ayotzinapa, one of three caravans by the parents and supporters of the missing 43 students from the Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos teachers’ college in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, is scheduled to arrive in Oaxaca tomorrow morning (Nov. 17). A procession from the crucero at Trinidad de Viguera to the zócalo in Oaxaca is scheduled to begin at 9 AM. Given the prohibition against foreigners participating in political activity, as much as I would like to be there, I’ll be sticking close to home.
However, for my friends in the USA, check out photographer and writer Tim Porter’s article, #43; there are demonstrations coming to a city near you. Tim is a frequent visitor to Oaxaca and, for my Marin peeps, his articles and photographs regularly appear in Marin Magazine.
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