Past Exhibition

Ancestry and Artistry: Maya Textiles from Guatemala

Andrea Aragón, Jean-Marie Simon, Verónica Riedel
Jan 22, 2015
to
Apr 19, 2015
EXHIBITION

Cloth holds great importance for Guatemala’s indigenous communities, and traditional dress plays an essential role in Maya identity today as a vital link with the ancestral past and a means of cultural reinvention.

Whether worn for religious ceremonies or as an emblem of ethnic pride, textiles offer a medium for innovation and creative expression, as well as a marketable product for the tourist industry. Through an array of textiles patterned with evocative designs rich in iconography, Ancestry and Artistry traces a century of dynamic change as well as the remarkable continuity of ancient Maya traditions in the face of significant modernization, political upheaval, and religious transformation.

Integrated into the exhibition is the work of contemporary artists Andrea Aragón, Verónica Riedel, and photo-journalist Jean-Marie Simon.

The exhibition is accompanied by a full-colour catalogue with essays by Roxane Shaughnessy, James C. Langley, Rosario Miralbés de Polanco, Ann Pollard Rowe, Donna E. Stewart, and Mary Anne Wise.
Organized and circulated by Textile Museum of Canada and Curated by Roxane Shaughnessy.

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