Huichol Art and Culture: Balancing the World focuses on the Huichol, a Native American people of western Mexico who for many centuries have retained their unique culture and prehispanic religious beliefs. Their remote location in the rugged Sierra Madre Occidental mountains primarily in the states of Jalisco and Nayarit has allowed for greater resistance than any other indigenous group to the forces of Christianization and acculturation. The Huichol people today continue to create traditional art and practice ancient rituals that predate the time of Spanish contact.
From 1934-1935, Dr. Robert Mowry Zingg (1900-1957) was the first American anthropologist to conduct extended ethnographic fieldwork among the Huichol in the community of Tuxpan de Bolaņos. Zingg lived with Huichol families and participated in everyday life, while studying their mythology and ceremonialism. Huichol Art and Culture: Balancing the World presents the collection of Huichol artifacts which Zingg collected on behalf of the Laboratory of Anthropology during the earliest years of its history as an institution.
In the past and today, Huichol art is made to communicate with a pantheon of ancestors and gods. When Zingg arrived in Tuxpan, he found that most Huichol adults were occupied with making art. As he observed, the Huichol constantly create offerings which serve as visual prayers to the gods. As part of the ceremonial cycle, the Huichol make pilgrimages to leave offerings at sacred sites.
At left: This votive gourd bowl is an early example of the technique used in Huichol yarn painting. The interior is decorated with wool yarn pressed into beeswax. Gourd bowls are prayers for health, success, or bountiful crops. The 1803 silver coin in the center of this bowl is a request for prosperity. Tuxpan de Bolaņos, ca. 1934. 20.0 x 7.0 cm. Robert M. Zingg collection, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture/ Laboratory of Anthropology
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture Website
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