Art Embroidery Panel "Castigo Maya"

Embroidery art panel depicting the response to violence of the period after year 2000

The civil war in Guatemala during the 1970s through the mid-1990s decimated the indigenous Maya population in many parts of the country.  The violence of that period, along with the influx of juvenile gangs from Honduras and Salvador, helped to create a culture of violence among the disenfranchised and unemployed youth of the country.  In recent years, as the Guatemalan government proved incapable of controlling this and other manifestations of violence on the population, the Maya community took the act of punishment into its own hands.  This tapestry depicts that occurence.  

The village of San Andres Semetabaj is a very traditional Maya town located on a shelf of land high above Lake Atitlan. This town was particularly traumatized by the army during this period. These embroideries are of contemporary manufacture, and were woven and embroidered by hand by women in a weaving cooperative in San Andres. Each is signed by the woman in embroidery on the reverse side. Through their embroideries, they tell their stories of violence and murder that currently traumatizes their culture.

Size: approximately 19 inches square

Condition: NEW never used or displayed, colors bright and vibrant