:: 2014 :: 50cm x 75cm :: Acrylics, Inks and Markers on Canvas ::
On one of the last evenings in Mexico, five of us came together to hold ceremony with sacred visionary plants and to seek insight with which we would return to our homes. I had spent the day up in the mountains, visiting two Tzotzil Maya towns outside San Cristóbal: the famous town of Chamula with its equally famous church, and Zinacantán, which is called Sotz'leb in Tzotzil, 'place of the bats'. Upon entering the ceremony that evening, my eyes were still filled with the mountain landscapes and the time spent with people in the towns, raising eyebrows with my halting Tzotzil speech!
This is the vision I received, wrapped in the cloth of night but enfolded with glowing Mayan crosses and ceremony songs. This vision was gentle but sure, and played repeatedly before my eyes before sending me gently into dreams. Upon my return home to England, I found that the Tzotzil of Zinacantán call a certain species of mushroom yaxal vinajel 'blue sky', and that vinajel, the customary Tzotzil word for 'sky' literally means 'that which is revealed', all of which resonated deeply with my vision. I am here depicted gazing into that 'revelation'...
Batz'i kolaval! Jun ko'on ta jvula'an ta Jobele xchi'uk ta Cha'mo xch'iuk ta Sotz'leb!
Thank you very much! I was happy to visit San Cristóbal, Chamula and Zinacantan!
