FÉNIX OMETEOTL

concrete, bronze leaf, Silver leaf, acrylic paint, 2020

CENTRO MÉDICO MAZUNTE

OAXACA, MÉXICO

Southwestern exposure to Mexican Federal Highway 175 (Mazunte’s main thoroughfare), the work’s title, Fénix Ometeotl, is sourced from cosmological sources that navigate the region’s pre-colonization identity as Nahuatl/Aztec and Zapotec territory — as the head physician of Centro Médico Mazunte celebrates his Aztec lineage with this commission project. ‘Omeoteotl’ is Nahuatl for ‘ome’ = two, and ‘teotl’ = energy, as in the duality, balance, and convergence of the two creative forces that are believed to have fueled the origins of our universe and solar system (linking to the The Big Bang Theory). Evoking the primordial being who symbolizes celestial events within the knowledge traditions of the Indigenous peoples of the region, the work is intended to divest Oaxacan culture from the impacts of the global North, creating an active pathway of legacy and awareness that lives in Public Space as Art, and now online as archival photo and video documentation exist as NFTs.

Public Art NFTs now live on Foundation

https://foundation.app/@mariahelenatrad

MAZEHUALIZTLI

AZTEC WAR DANCE OPENING CEREMONY 

FEBRUARY 9, 2020

Reception for Fénix Ometeotl commenced with Mazehualiztli performed by two Mexican shamans, Ome Tochtly and Elian Cohuatzpali. The ceremony began at dusk during a full moon as both celestial bodies were present in the sky. Celebrating the movements of Tonatiuh and Metztli, Nahuatl sun and moon deities, Ome danced while Elian drummed with a Huehuetl percussion instrument; integrating in mathematical method the movements of the planets into cosmically attuned choreography and rhythm. Concluding the performance, audience members were invited to participate in individual rituals from Ome and Elian by way of traditional Nahuatl medicine practices of smoke clearing and instrumental blessing.

PHOTOS: Steven Zamisch

RESEARCH + PROCESS:

ADDITIONAL SOURCE:

Bonds of Blood: Gender, Lifecycle, and Sacrifice in Aztec Culture

2008 Edition by Caroline Dodds Pennock

φοῖνιξ