By Teresa Morales | Project Leader
This project aims to strengthen meaningful bonds between local youth and their indigenous community culture, carrying out workshops to increase awareness and foster creative expression regarding fundamental community practices. During this period the Union of Community Museums of Oaxaca and the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago successfully completed the first step in a significant collaboration to create community murals with the participation of young people and elders of Oaxaca, under the guidance of well-known artist, Hector Duarte.
Members of the Mixtec community of San Pedro Molinos are deeply appreciative of the mural painted on a stone wall in front of the municipal palace, representing community practices to honor the earth, to collectively manage the communal territory, to organize community service, and to carry out ceremonies for healing. Images of the waters that flow from the sacred cave in the heart of their community integrate the different scenes and symbols portrayed.
To create this piece of community art, the Union of Community Museums of Oaxaca received the support of the National Museum of Mexican Art, enabling the participation of the muralist Hector Duarte, who has painted more than 50 murals in the area of Chicago. UMCO coordinated the efforts of the community museum committee, the municipal authorities, the students of the local middle school and elders to carry out the project.
The first step included meetings of local authorities and elders, who discussed significant aspects of their territory they believed the students should learn about, such as the roles of agrarian authorities, the importance of oral agreements, historical sites within the territory, healing practices and diverse ceremonies to celebrate and honor the spirits of the land. Following this, students developed initial reflections on their territory, and were organized into teams to dialogue with elders during visits to the different sites identified. After the site visits, the elders further clarified many observations with each team.
Under the guidance of Hector Duarte, students developed individual drawings, integrated their proposals to represent five main themes, and created representations of each one. They painted the background and then incorporated the individual scenes, which Hector further integrated through the image of the sacred cave, the water flowing throughout the community, and the mythical serpents of water.
This meaningful expression of community concerns and symbols was highly valued by participants and other community members, who have expressed their interest in continuing similar projects.
The collaboration between the Union of Community Museums of Oaxaca and the National Museum of Mexican Art will continue throughout 2026, to carry out the creation of another community mural in Santiago Matatlán.
During this period, UMCO facilitators also coordinated the efforts of the community museum, schoolteachers, and students from Kalamazoo College to carry out two local workshops for elementary schoolchildren. The community museum committees of Santa Ana del Valle and San Pedro Molinos chose the themes to be addressed and organized the participation of elders for local workshops, which were led by Kalamazoo students who completed internships by proposing creative mediums and designing the activities. In the case of Molinos, a student from the Master’s program in Art and Communication of the University of Bologna, Italy, also participated in developing the workshop.
In Santa Ana del Valle, the committee chose the theme of traditional healing practices, while the Kalamazoo students designed a workshop for children to create art through oil pastel paintings to express what they had learned. The children made field trips to observe medicinal plants, and spoke with a curandera, a sobadora, and a chupador. (A curandera uses a variety of practices including herbal healing, a sobadora heals through practices similar to massage, and a chupador heals by sucking out elements that create illness in the body.) The paintings they created to represent these practices were presented in an exhibition during a community event that brought together elementary school students and teachers, local authorities, parents and elders.
In San Pedro Molinos, the elementary school children developed a project of “Mail Art,” creating postcards, as well as individual and collective letters and drawings, as messages directed to community members. They interacted with elders to learn about the subjects of the local carnival, practices of local commerce, traditional community leaders, and traditional cooking. Their artistic products were also presented in a community event with the participation of children and adults.
In this way, during this period 136 students, including 78 elementary students from Santa Ana del Valle and 58 elementary and middle school students from San Pedro Molinos, were able to strengthen their relationships with elders, as well as understanding, appreciating, and creatively reflecting on their community culture.
By Teresa Morales | Project Leader
By Teresa Morales | Project Leader
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