Prime Collective
0
Portrait of dancing clown with the typical costume. When they use their masks they prefer not to reveal their identity. From the gang "Cuadrilla de Juquilita", Coatepec, Veracruz, Mexico, 2016.

ITOTIA • Luján Agusti

A visual study on Mexican syncretism applied to masked dances.

With the arrival of the Spaniards, a process of evangelization began throughout Mexico, and Latin America, involving different maneuvers from the colonizers to achieve the empathy of the locals. Among the most effective techniques, apart from the tremendous acts of violence and genocides, were the creation of rituals and festivities that included a mixture of European and pre-Hispanic elements. After the colonization, all these celebrations were tucked in the heart of the Mexican traditions.

ITOTIA, from the Nahuatl "to dance", aims to formally analyze the constitutive elements of several traditions that take place in different communities of the country. These festivities are a fundamental piece to understand "Syncretism", process that attempts to overcome a situation of cultural crisis produced by the collision of two different religions. The clearest example of this is the Virgin of Guadalupe, the dark-skinned virgin.

The photographs are presented as colorful, surreal portraits, but when dismembering the layers, they face us with social decadence, and actions that go back to the beginning of the construction of America as we know it today. "Syncretism" as a political tool, exercising power over communities that can not break free. Portraits of wounded towns that keep celebrating.

 
 
 

PROJECTS

ITOTIA

By Luján Agusti

With the arrival of the Spaniards, a process of evangelization began throughout Mexico, and Latin America, involving different maneuvers from the colonizers to achieve the empathy of the locals. Among the most effective techniques, apart from the tremendous acts of violence and genocides, were the creation of rituals and festivities that included a mixture of European and pre-Hispanic elements. After the colonization, all these celebrations were tucked in the heart of the Mexican traditions.

ITOTIA, from the Nahuatl "to dance", aims to formally analyze the constitutive elements of several traditions that take place in different communities of the country. These festivities are a fundamental piece to understand "Syncretism", process that attempts to overcome a situation of cultural crisis produced by the collision of two different religions. The clearest example of this is the Virgin of Guadalupe, the dark-skinned virgin.

The photographs are presented as colorful, surreal portraits, but when dismembering the layers, they face us with social decadence, and actions that go back to the beginning of the construction of America as we know it today. "Syncretism" as a political tool, exercising power over communities that can not break free. Portraits of wounded towns that keep celebrating.