Exhibition at Casa Montejo, Mérida Yucatán,

Cultural Promotion Banamex

In November 2019, we were fortunate to bring the exhibition “Behind a Mask” to the beautiful city of Mérida, Yucatán, thanks to the invitation from Citibanamex, through Cultural Promotion Banamex, under the direction of Cándida Fernández, which was presented at the Casa Montejo Museum.

Carnival arrives as it does every year in San Martín Tilcajete, a town in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca renowned for its Mexican folk art thanks to its copal wood carvings, better known as "alebrijes," decorated with unique designs and multicolored dyes. This passion for the artistic has also led the community to preserve other expressions of culture, including a unique Holy Week carnival, where the "devils" or "oiled ones," named for the grease they apply to their bodies, are the main attraction.

For several years now, the Jacobo & María Ángeles Workshop, a recognized exponent of the carvings from Tilcajete, has enriched and spread this carnival by recovering its vernacular elements, while also incorporating a very personal aesthetic vision, especially in the costumes, highlighting their fascinating masks. So successfully that it is now part of the living tradition of this town, and undoubtedly, of the multicultural state of Oaxaca.