Embassy of Mexico June 2014
La Petite Mort Gallery & The Embassy of Mexico present
MEXICAN MASKS FROM THE MUYAES OGAZóN COLLECTION 1940-1980.
JUNE 13 – 26, 2014 / VERNISSAGE Friday June 13 / 7 – 10pm @ La Petite Mort Gallery / 306 Cumberland Street / Ottawa
Please come meet the Ambassador of Mexico in Ottawa, Canada who will say a brief speech.
Organized by Soileh Padilla, Cultural Attache to the Embassy of Mexico, & Guy Berube, director of La Petite Mort Gallery.
Statement:In the frame of celebrating 70 years of bilateral relations between Mexico and Canada, The Embassy of Mexico and La Petite Mort Gallery are proud to present this exhibition that shows a variety of masks from different regions of Mexico, it allows us to see the incredible variety that even for a lot of the Mexican people is unknown. There are masks from the States of Hidalgo, Guerrero, Chiapas, Puebla, Jalisco, Sonora , Nayarit, Queretaro, Guanajuato, Michoacán and other places that somehow have survived the accelerated pace of the country. We see animals that transform the dancer into a fierce tiger or a shy rabbit ,we see moors and Christians that are loaded with the religious background imposed to the Mexican people in colonial times, and other characters full of humor, anguish , desire, happiness, guilt, and any other human vulnerability that can be expressed through this fantastic form of art.
The Muyaes Ogazon collection of traditional Mexican masks was put together by Professor Estela Ogazon and the anthropologist Jaled Muyaes throughout more than 50 years. They dedicated their lives to the rescue of Mexican culture emphasizing their energy in the fascinating world of the Mexican dances and celebrations which use masks. The collection is composed by about 3000 masks all of which have been used in the celebrations which makes them unique pieces filled with a life of their own. They focused specially in the aesthetics of the objet but always made sure to have all the ethnographic information that a serious collection requires.
They travelled all over Mexico ,attended the celebrations in the small towns, some at Christmas time, some at Easter, others celebrating the Patron saint of the communities, some other ritual, like in the State of Nayarit and Sonora. But always regarding these festivities with great respect and admiration, praising the traditions that have lasted throughout centuries and that other countries like the one this collection is visiting now, have to offer to the world.Our indigenous people have defended their traditions with passion, they show us what we are with their incredibly artistic expressions like the masks, where we come from and where we could go with their legacy. Our legacy.
Gracias.