Life visions

Size: 62x104cm; 24x41inches

Award winning weaver: Maria Mendoza Contreras

Materials and methods: Agave fiber hand dyed with only natural dyes: beæ (cochineal for red, pinks magenta and overdye for orange), xiuhquilitl (indigo for blues, and green overdyes), pomegranate (for ochre and base for green and orange), cempasuchitl (for yellow) and zapote negro (for browns). Hand woven on a Zapotec walking loom of the 16th century style using a 7 threads per inch harness and hemp warping. Maria and her son Justino rediscovered the ancient art of weaving using agave fibers. The oldest textiles were made using agave fibers, when our people started making cordage, thumplines and pouches for slingshots they were weaving using fingers as the warp structure and then that evolved into a weaving technique where one can place sticks on the ground to weave long thumplines. Later in time weaving evolved into the back strap loom techniques. 

Design, patterns and symbols. 

My auntie Maria designed this rug as a meditation and life visions for the future. One of the symbols she used is the warrior life cycle symbol that has five steps in the spiral and reaches 104 years old, each step or square of the pattern is said to represent 13 years of life. Our ancestors understood that since the momment we are born we embrace death as part of life and that no momment should be taken for granted, by becoming aware of our death, we can begin to fully appreciate life in all its little moments. The ancient nawales (shamans) developed techniques to preserve our energy, health and vitality; these techniques were developed since time inmemorial, by people that were used to walking huge distances, gathering wild foods and hunting large game, people that survived the drastic changes in the climate during the last ice age were using this techniques to survive long migration, to adapt to new landscapes and flourish in new environments. Since our cultures became more settled and sedentary we have the need to remember oursleves and our bodies that we are not inmortals and that we are constantly being hunted by death, so the nawales developed excersises and postures to condition the body (something that looks like yoga and that recently is called Kinam), breath exercises and dreaming with intention as a way to strengthen our bodies, and expand our awareness. This knowledge was taught in free, mandatory and public school systems in most of the sacred sites found in archaelogical sites across Anawak (mesoamerica). The other symbol used in this rug us the five pointed cross (quincunce) a symbol that represents venus, the quetzalcoatl awareness, the awaraness that comes with living a life of balance and harmony, seeking beauty in everything that we do.