artesanía |aɾ.te.sa.ˈni.a|
NOUN crafts, craftsmanship, handicraft
ORIGIN Spanish, ‘art,’ from the Latin ars
The woman in this piece is little more than a hanger for her traditional clothing. By focusing on the beauty of contemporary artesanía, or material culture, Mérida’s paintings departed from the European focus on pre-Columbian art, which tended to ignore indigenous art created after the Spanish Conquest. In doing so, Mérida aligned himself with some of his Mexican friends from his heady days in Montmartre. Together, they dedicated themselves to the study of artesanía.