Face the facts…
she’s turned her back on you.
The walls of Oaxaca tell all.
Posts Tagged ‘urban art’
From front to back
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Travel & Tourism, tagged illustrations, M.W.H., Mexico, Oaxaca, photos, popular travel destinations, street art, urban art, wall art on August 9, 2019| Leave a Comment »
Zapata stays
Posted in Creativity, Culture, History, Music, Travel & Tourism, tagged Armarte, Emiliano Zapata, graffiti, Lila Downs, Mexico, murals, Oaxaca, photos, song Zapata Se Queda, street art, Taller-Galeria Siqueiros, urban art, URTARTE, wall art on April 26, 2019| Leave a Comment »
Even if you’re dreaming of sitting on a beach with a book and glass of wine in hand, there are reminders that one hundred years ago, on April 10, 1919, Mexican revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata was assassinated.
In southern Mexico, in the words of Lila Downs, Zapata Se Queda (Zapata Stays) and remains a beloved martyr who continues to inspire.
And, to remind all to never forget, and continue the struggle. The cry of “not one more” echos from the streets.
Mural on the wall of Taller-Galeria Siqueiros on Calle Porfirio Díaz.
Women of the walls
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Travel & Tourism, tagged crumbling walls, Mexico, Mexico City, murals, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, street art, urban art, wall art, women's faces on September 5, 2018| 6 Comments »
A local’s guide to Mexico City: 10 tips describes a mural project by Aida Mulato and Jóvenes Artesanos to help rehabilitate her Roma neighborhood following the September 2017 earthquakes. According to the article, “The colourful murals celebrate indigenous communities and women, who continue to suffer most from the earthquakes. The project supports the larger goals of Jóvenes Artesanos and gives various support to about 150 artisans with whom Mulato works. With 15 murals painted already, the goal is to create a circuit of 68, representing the country’s indigenous populations.”
What an enlightened and wonderful contrast to the game of cat and mouse, street mural artists have been facing here in Oaxaca for the past few years, where many (including me) have been asking, are Color and culture, unwelcome? However, while they may be more ephemeral than we would wish, artists are still at work on the sides of our own crumbling buildings, and murals still can be found on the walls of Oaxaca.
Enjoy them while you can, they may be gone tomorrow.
Tlacolula, Tlacolulokos, Tokiolula
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Travel & Tourism, tagged Guish Bac, Mexico, murals, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, street art, Tlacolula de Matamoros, Tlacolulokos, Tokiolula, urban art, wall art, women's faces on August 5, 2018| 4 Comments »
If it’s Sunday, it must be market day in Tlacolula de Matamoros. However, it’s not just the market (one of the oldest and biggest in Oaxaca) that keeps me returning, it’s also the prevalence of fabulous murals decorating walls and sides of buildings. Unfortunately, here in Oaxaca city, there has been a growing intolerance by the powers-that-be to these cultural and often political expressions. However, in Tlacolula, they seem to be encouraged and celebrated — and the Tlacolulokos collective has elevated mural painting to a high art form.
We discovered their latest mural a few weeks ago as we were navigating out way through Tlacolula on our way back from the Feria del Barro Rojo in San Marcos Tlapazola. As with their previous work, using iconic imagery they continue to explore and honor the strength of the beautiful and brave Zapotec women of Tlacolula — this time, in what seems to be a “blue period.”
I was more than a bit puzzled by the above and very prominent words featured on the mural and had to do a little research — after all, that’s what librarians do! It turns out, “Tokiolula” refers to the 1960s and 1970s when the Tlacolula market was known for selling cheap and often counterfeit goods — mostly from Asia. That ended in the 1980s, but, unfortunately, has been creeping back.
As for Guish-Bac… “in Zapotec dialect of Tlacolula, Guish Bac is said to mean ‘in the middle of the sky’ or ‘in the middle of the path'” (Revista Cultural Bení Guish Bac Gulal – my translation) and, according to the footnotes in this dissertation, it refers to “people from Tlacolula.”
Sad-eyed lady…
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Music, Travel & Tourism, tagged art, artists, Bob Dylan, Erika Santiago, Joan Baez, Mexico, murals, music, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, Sad-Eyed Lady Of the Lowlands, San Eyed, street art, urban art, wall art on June 4, 2018| 2 Comments »
Passing Erika Santiago‘s haunting mural along the wall outside Almacén Mexicano on Calle Valentín Gómez Farías, Sad-Eyed Lady Of the Lowlands began playing in my head.
Sometimes art brings a song. And, maybe we are all a little sad these days.
Smile more
Posted in Buildings, Creativity, Culture, Travel & Tourism, tagged abandoned buildings, crumbling buildings, graffiti, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, street art, The Positive Affect, urban art, wall art on May 9, 2018| Leave a Comment »
Even if it looks like the world is crumbling around you…
On Reforma, at the corner of Constitucion in Oaxaca — courtesy of The Positive Affect project.
Magic carpet ride
Posted in Buildings, Creativity, Culture, Music, Travel & Tourism, tagged art, Magic Carpet Ride song, Mexico, murals, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, Steppenwolf, street art, urban art, wall art on March 12, 2018| 6 Comments »
On Calle de Ignacio Allende at the corner of Tinoco y Palacios, a new mural is ready to take you on a magic carpet ride.
Well, you don’t know what we can find
Why don’t you come with me little girl
On a magic carpet ride
You don’t know what we can see
Why don’t you tell your dreams to me
Fantasy will set you free
Close your eyes girl
Look inside girl
Let the sound take you away
— Magic Carpet Ride, written by Normal Cook, Robert Manuel Clivilles, and David Bryon Cole; performed by Steppenwolf.
Hopefully, this mural won’t be slapped with “pintura no autorizada” signs like its predecessor.
Unauthorized!
Posted in Buildings, Creativity, Culture, Travel & Tourism, tagged art, Mexico, murals, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, pintura no autorizada, street art, unauthorized painting, urban art, wall art on December 5, 2017| 1 Comment »
Walls of murals may be welcomed and encouraged in Tlacolula de Matamoros and Villa de Zaachila but, alas, such is not the case in the city of Oaxaca. Remember the image on my Surfin’ safari post in September?
Calle de Ignacio Allende at the corner of Tinoco y Palacios
And it wasn’t even finished — it is even more impressive now!
However, do you see the two sheets of paper defacing the mural?
Here we go again… Like Color and culture, unwelcome and Lapiztola’s incredibly moving mural on the side of Museo Belber Jimenez, the authorities have declared this wonderful piece of art did not have their permission and will, most probably, be painted over. Don’t they have more pressing problems to deal with? Hint: The multiple buildings “en mal estado” scattered throughout the Historic District that are in danger of collapsing onto pedestrians and drivers.
Who tells your story?
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Exhibitions, Libraries, Travel & Tourism, tagged California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Public Library, Mexico, murals, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, street art, Tlacolula de Matamoros, Tlacolulokos, urban art, Visualizing Language: Oaxaca in L.A. exhibition, wall art on November 30, 2017| 18 Comments »
Last week in Tlacolula, as friends and I were studying the “¡Solo Dios perdona!” mural by the Tlacolulokos collective, the storekeeper next door advised us that if we liked that one, we should check out another spectacular Tlacolulokos mural a few blocks away. So we did.
He was right — it was indeed stunning in SO many ways! We came face-to-face with three strong, proud, and beautiful Zapotec women of Tlacolula wearing their stories.
There was the traditional white blouse with its crocheted yolk, the black and white rebozo twisted into a head covering, and there were the prized gold and pearl earrings.
But, so too were the tattoos of iconic Catholic imagery of Virgen María and Jésus wearing his crown of thorns juxtaposed with pre-Conquest grecas of Mitla, a Spanish galleon, and the heart-dagger of betrayal. This is one powerful mural! And, the story doesn’t end here in Oaxaca.
It is estimated that 250,000 Zapotecs live in the greater Los Angeles area — “making it the largest concentration of Oaxacans outside of Oaxaca thus earning its unofficial title among Oaxacan in the United States as Oaxacalifornia.” (The Voice of Indigenous Resistance in Oaxacalifornia) Thus it was appropriate that Cosijoesa Cernas and Dario Canul of the Tlacolulokos collective were invited to create eight massive murals, “Visualizing Language: Oaxaca in L.A” for an exhibition at the Los Angeles Public Library. They hang “below murals by Dean Cornwell, whose depictions of California’s history, completed in 1933, ignore Native Californian cultures and ‘fail to recognize the suffering of native peoples during the European conquest, as well as their exclusion from society…'” (New Murals Celebrate the Culture of Oaxaca in L.A.)
The murals at the Downtown Central Library in Los Angeles will be on exhibit in the library’s rotunda until January 31, 2018.
Cats
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Travel & Tourism, tagged graffiti, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, stencil art, street art, urban art, wall art on May 7, 2017| 7 Comments »
“What’s your name,” Coraline asked the cat. “Look, I’m Coraline. Okay?”
“Cats don’t have names,” it said.
“No?” said Coraline.
“No,” said the cat. “Now you people have names. That’s because you don’t know who you are. We know who we are, so we don’t need names.” — Neil Gaiman, Coraline
The problem with cats is that they get the exact same look on their face whether they see a moth or an axe-murderer. — Paula Poundstone
“Curiosity killed the cat,” Fesgao remarked, his dark eyes unreadable.
Aly rolled her eyes. Why did everyone say that to her? “People always forget the rest of the saying,” she complained. “‘And satisfaction brought it back.” — Tamora Pierce, Trickster’s Choice
Aly rolled her eyes. Why did everyone say that to her? “People always forget the rest of the saying,” she complained. “‘And satisfaction brought it back.” — Tamora Pierce, Trickster’s Choice
Missing the color
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Travel & Tourism, tagged art, graffiti, Mexico, murals, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, street art, urban art, wall art on November 29, 2016| 12 Comments »
I’m still on the East Coast, now outside of Boston. It’s cold (not freezing, thank goodness), dark by 4:30 PM, and colors are bland. Today, as we dashed down an alley, dodging raindrops, from parking lot to restaurant, I caught a brief glimpse of a mural on the side of a building, but it seemed rather lackluster compared to the walls of Oaxaca.
Calle de Tinoco y Palacios, Oaxaca de Juárez — Oct. 31, 2016
Calle de Ignacio López Rayón, Oaxaca de Juárez — Nov. 9, 2016
Emiliano Zapata (corner of I. López Rayón), Oaxaca de Juárez — Nov. 9, 2016
While I LOVE (I think that’s what the last one says) seeing my family and appreciate (more than a little) paper towels that don’t disintegrate, drinking water from the tap, and plumbing that can handle toilet paper, I’m homesick for Oaxaca. Soon!
If the walls could talk…
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Travel & Tourism, tagged Jalatlaco, Mexico, Mose Allison, mural, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, street art, urban art, wall art, Your Mind Is On Vacation lyrics on November 17, 2016| 2 Comments »
The US election results had come in and, with mixed feelings, I was preparing for a trip up into the belly of the beast, to visit family. A mural seen shortly before I left, on the wall of contemporary art space La Curtiduria on 5 de mayo in Jalatlaco, seemed to speak to me.
Today, after hearing of the death of Mose Allison, another musical great I had the privilege of seeing in person several times, I’m thinking the wall could very well have been singing…
Your Mind Is On Vacation
by Mose Allison
You’re sitting there yakkin’ right in my face
I guess I’m gonna have to put you in your place
Y’know if silence was golden
You couldn’t raise a dime
Because your mind is on vacation and your mouth is
Working overtime
You’re quoting figures, you’re dropping names
You’re telling stories about the dames
You’re always laughin’ when things ain’t funny
You try to sound like you’re big money
If talk was criminal, you’d lead a life of crime
Because your mind is on vacation and your mouth is
Working overtime
You know that life is short and talk is cheap
Don’t be making promises that you can’t keep
If you don’t like the song I’m singing, just grin and
Bear it
All I can say is if the shoe fits wear it
If you must keep talking please try to make it rhyme
‘Cause your mind is on vacation and your mouth is working
Overtime
Lapiztola, cutting thru the…
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Travel & Tourism, tagged exhibitions, Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca (IAGO), Lapiztola, Mexico, murals, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, urban art on September 3, 2016| 4 Comments »
For ten years, since the 2006 teacher uprising in Oaxaca, with scissors, paper, paint, and talent, the Lapiztola collective has been cutting through propaganda and meaningless phrases to lead, provoke, and inspire with their art. Looking across the Alcalá from Santo Domingo, a new stenciled mural in front the Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca (IAGO) caught my eye…
There she was, beckoning, much like the beautiful and haunting mural, We sow dreams and harvest hope on the Tinoco y Palacios wall of Museo Belber Jimenez (before it, along with others, was unceremoniously ordered removed by the city government). Another mural by Colectivo Lapiztola.
The symbolism of the corn, the bandana, and a young indigenous girl is rich in the layers of rebellion and resistance of modern-day Oaxaca. And so I went up the stairs of IAGO and into the courtyard where Benito Juárez presided over the entrance to the exhibit, Corte Aquí (Cut Here), by the Lapiztola collective.
Lapiztola consists of three artists: Rosario Martínez, Yankel Balderas, and Roberto Vega. This small exhibit (3 stencils and 7 graphic works), with its larger-than-life images, covers three rooms and stimulates our hearts and our minds.
Over the past ten years, as the exhibition demonstrates, Lapiztola has taken on the issues of social protest, disappearances, the protection of natural resources, and drug-trafficking — the latter, as evidenced below.
Also included, is one of the first Lapiztola images that fascinated me. It covered the front of the Espacio Zapata in 2012 and speaks volumes about modern society.
If you go to the exhibition, don’t miss the third room; in it hangs the three massive stencils (below) used to produce the brilliant mural I named the Art of Agave, celebrating the human face of agave cultivation. It once educated and enlivened the wall of Piedra Lumbre on Tinoco y Palacios, before it, too, was painted over.
I’m not sure how long the exhibition will last. However, if you are in Oaxaca, I encourage you to pay it a visit and to all, when you are in Oaxaca, make sure to pay attention to the walls — they have something tell you.
God and resistance…
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Education, Labor, Politics, tagged graffiti, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, street art, urban art, wall art on August 16, 2016| 2 Comments »
Murals seen in mid July on Garcia Vigil, between Independencia and Morelos. A month later, they have been painted over, but in Oaxaca, god and resistance never die…
The public school fall semester is scheduled to start Monday, August 22 and, as you can see from the Oaxaca-The Year After blog post, for good reason, no one is holding their breath.
So, while we wait, take a deep breath, exhale, and watch Lila Downs performing Dios Nunca Muere live HERE.
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Women in struggle
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Politics, Protests, Travel & Tourism, tagged Armarte, art, International Women's Day, marches, Mexico, Oaxaca, photos, political art, political commentary, protest, stencil art, street art, urban art, wall art, women's rights on March 11, 2019| 2 Comments »
Armed with their art, the women of Armarte OAX have taken to the streets to raise their voices in struggle.
And, they aren’t alone in Oaxaca…
In the early evening of International Women’s Day, thousands of women “reclaimed” some of the most dangerous streets of the city demanding an end to street harassment, punishment for rapists, the cessation of violence against women, and safe abortion.
Struggle, the other “women’s work.”
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