Arte-Art / Dance-Baile / Indigenous / Mexico
Guerrero’s regional art at the Mexican Cultural Institute
By hola | Published | No Comments
Mexico’s southwestern state of Guerrero is perhaps best known for the international beach resort of Acapulco. But the culturally and geographically diverse state has much more to recommend it, which is the point of the new exhibition at the Mexican Cultural Institute.
“Guerrero: Seven Regions of Art and Tradition” showcases handmade huipil dresses of the state’s lesser-known Mountain and Costa Chica regions, ceremonial masks produced for last two millennia in the northern part of the state, and sculptures of coconut palms unique to its Costa Grande. The show, brought to Washington by the Mexican Cultural Institute and Guerrero’s state Ministry of Culture, highlights the vibrant traditions of Guerrero’s four major ethnic groups—the Mixtec, Nahua, Tlapanec, and Amuzgo.
These cultures contribute to its unique blend of diversity, according to Laura Ramirez, the Mexican Cultural Institute’s executive director.
“Mexico is a product of Indigenous, European, African, and Asian cultures. So Mexico itself is a mosaic and each state of Mexico, as well, and the Seven Regions of Guerrero shows the cultural and artistic diversity of the state,” she says.
On display in three rooms of the stately 16th Street NW cultural center are popular art and handicrafts from each of those seven regions: the Northern Region, Tierra Caliente, the Mountain Region, Costa Grande, the Central Region, Costa Chica, and Acapulco.
Besides traditional handicrafts, the exhibition includes jewelry, lamps, hammocks, calico blouses and other items that can be found for sale in Acapulco, the resort city 190 miles southwest of Mexico City.
Acapulco is perhaps Mexico’s most successful tourist destination of all times. It first started attracting millionaires and starlets in the 1920s and remains one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations today. But this exhibition also highlights how the tourism industry has evolved since Acapulco’s 1950s heyday when it hosted the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra and Harry Belafonte. As much as a celebration of the region’s arts, the exhibition is a marketing enterprise designed to entice international tourists to venture beyond Acapulco and visit the state’s other attractions.
During the ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Manuel Zepeda, Guerrero’s Secretary of Culture, and Mexican Ambassador Eduardo Medina-Mora, performers pinned colorful, handcrafted miniature masks of tigers on guests as an invitation into one of the many cultural identifications of the state. And Guerrero natives Samantha Juarez, 26, and Bryan Cuevas, 20, performed the intricate footwork and playful movements of its regional dances.
“Guerrero: Seven Regions of Art and Tradition” will be on display until October 15 during the Mexican Cultural Institute’s regular Monday-Saturday operating hours. Group tours are also available.
–story + photo by Ashley Luke
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