Akumal

 Akumal Art Festival - Akumal, Mexico

Mural for @akumalartsfestival at the Akumal Community Center in Akumal, Mexico.

This mural depicts an interpretation of the Mayan goddess Ixchel kneeling in the Laguna Yal-Ku. Ixchel has been known at different times as Goddess of the earth, the moon, fertility, water, and the patroness of painters and textile weavers. She is often represented at different stages of life, from a young girl to an old woman, and embodies everything that a woman is: creative feminine energy, strength, love, versatility, endurance, sensuality, and tenderness.

Ixchel is represented in this piece in the likeness of Julissa, an 11-year old girl I met who attends art classes at the Community Center. She is Mayan but doesn’t speak her native language fluently and is embarrassed to use the words that she does know for fear of being teased or discriminated against. This piece aims to encourage Julissa and her peers to see themselves for the Goddesses that they are, the strong women that they will become, and the beauty in their culture and history.