A New Thread

There is an emergence of a new and contemporary thread that is interwoven with the traditional in Oaxaca.This fusion surfaces in wearable art, textiles,clothing, and the plastic arts.
Part of this new thread is to meet what is viewed as tourist demands. Traditional types of hand embroideries decorate nontraditional button down blouses. Some vendors emphasize the use of piel del angel (angel skin-the term used for polyester) in their traditional huipiles while others point out their use of algodon (cotton), seta (silk) and dyes from cochinilla and indigo.
Gustavo Fricke, a young architectural engineer from Mexico City, opened Black Box (www.la-blackbox.com) in May 2006.Gustavo's mission is to have a place "just for the art".He has an interesting mix of his own varied work which he sometimes collaborates with local artisans to actualize, work of local artists and cooperative projects.He has collaborated with students from the University of California in a project utilizing silkworm cocoons to make jewelry.Currently there is a group of work from an open artist call to April to work with materials found in the Mercado de Abastos on the edge of the city limits.The works ranged from pillows made from woven plastic shopping bags and fabric to lighting fixtures of brightly colored plastic buckets and Christmas lights.Of course, Black Box also features T-shirts emblazoned with political slogans,stencil graffiti and special mix music tapes.It's about as close to edgy as it gets.




Tienda Q- an upscale boutique in the heart of the city-features,among other beautiful pieces, streamlined cotton or silk huipiles machine embroidered with the poems of Natalia Toledo, in
both Spanish and Zapotec- an indigenous dialect.Natalia, an award winning poet who works in both languages, is the daughter of Francisco Toledo,painter and patron (saint) of the arts in Oaxaca.(www.oaxacatimes.com)


Silvia Suarez creates ropa atipica .The designer recycles and reconstructions huipiles and rebozos (shawls) and creates newer,more contemporary forms such as bustiers, halter dresses, handbags.This reinvention has turned into a popular trend that I saw throughout many of the younger retail spaces.



When I first came to Oaxaca over fifteen years ago,ropa tipica was worn mostly by the women who came in from surrounding villages to buy or sell in the mercados. Few locals and even fewer ex - pats worn huipiles.
This past month I was keenly aware of the large number of women, both local and foreign, using some form of ropa tipicia- more than I had ever seen before! I commented on this to a Oxacaquena friend of mine who said that she noticed it as well.She has always worn huipiles and was one of perhaps two others at her job who did the same.Now, she told me, nearly ALL of the women in her office wear some form of ropa tipica.

I had a lengthy conversation with a gentleman who works in a beautiful colonial structure that houses the work of 70 indigenous families from the state of Oaxaca.More than half of this space is filled with textiles: ropa tipica, huipiles, tablecloths,accessories.He spoke eloquently about the relationship of his people-the indigenous-to the earth,to their communities, to their families, to their culture.
He told me :
"You cannot take write and document to conserve and preserve culture. You cannot take photographs to conserve and preserve culture.Our history is an oral history.To conserve and preserve culture, you must live it."