How it started: Part Six

After our group in Guatemala got back to Antigua from our stint to the Peten, we started the mural project in Santiago Zamora!

We had four days to paint two walls; one 30ft and one 50ft!
We worked with the town's artist Edgar Chipix; a fantastic artist who was a bit of an outcast from the town for wanting to be an artist rather than a farmer.
The 50ft wall was based off of my sketches for an overall design and showcased like a story line from a Maya codex. The right side of the wall depicts the ancient Maya with the temple in its glory and the Maya figures (designed in the style Edgar had developed in his artwork) are ancient royals and ball players. Behind the figures the sun is setting behind two of the volcanoes surrounding the bowl of Antigua. In the center of the mural grows a Ceiba tree from the earth band symbol and the cycles of the moon rest under the sky band symbol at the top of the branches. The nine roots of the tree represent the nine levels of the underworld and the thirteen branches represent the thirteen levels of the heavens. The Ceiba tree is sectioned up as a Maize plant, a Cacao plant, and a bean plant representing all the agriculture of the ancient Maya people. At the Ceiba's base grows coffee plants, representing the new agriculture of the Maya people. On the left side of the mural the children of the town play games, practice singing and the harp, and do all the activities offered at El Plan Infinito. The sun rises from behind the third volcano representing the new beginning for these modern Maya children.
On the 30ft wall, my classmate Chris designed a more graffiti style mural which incorporates a stylized Maya profile in gold spray paint, the traditional Huipil design, the pattern of the cobble stones throughout the town, and a graffiti stylization of the towns name. The two mural connect through the Huipil of a woman on the 50ft side who represents the Woman's Weaving Cooperative of Santiago Zamora, a group of weavers who raise money to educate the children of the town and to get medical care for all the people of the town. For the four days we spent in the town the women made us lunch and sold us some of their wares.
As our finishing touch to the mural all of the children, the women from the weaving cooperative, and all of us from MassArt put our hand prints under the name of the building.