I have heard many good things about the contemporary art scene in Mexico City, and so I planned a trip to visit for the first time in January. Of course there are many other things I wanted to see, such as the pyramids at Teotihuacan and the Anthropology Museum in CDMX that – in one review I read – is described as worthy of a trip to Mexico City just for that museum (and it was!).
But I’m getting ahead of myself – I had just landed at the airport, and was making my way through immigration and customs procedures, and then looking for a bus to take me into the historic center of the city, where I had an Airbnb reservation. I was walking around a little lost and confused (since I don’t speak Spanish, other than a couple simple phrases), when I happened upon this larger-than-life sculpture of a mythical beast. The only identification I saw was a plaque that said “Menchaca” and a QR code … I should have scanned the QR code, but I was anxious to find my bus, so I took the picture and kept moving.
But now that I’ve had time to do a little research, I’ve learned that this is the work of the artist Cesar Menchaca, and if you look closely, the patterns are made with beads. This style is called “Huichol art,” which refers to folk art and handcrafts produced by the Huichol people, who are Indigenous people of Mexico who live in the states of Jalisco, Durango, Zacatecas and Nayarit in Mexico. You can learn more about Cesar Menchaca and the group of Huichole artisans he works with on his website here, and you can also see his Instagram profile here.
Here’s a closer look at this piece:
