Journal #1

Photos from Day 1.
Photos from Day 2 (churches).
Photos from Day 3 (sculptors and carvers).
1) When you decided to go on the Oaxaca program, who were the first people you told about the trip and how did they respond to your plans?

The first people I told was my friend Jaclyn and Yehshen. I told them because Jaclyn is a spanish major and Yehshen is a cool chick. They both sounded really interested, but Jacy decided not to go since it doesn't have any spanish credit and Yehshen said she has to save that money for something else. I mentioned it to Meleah and our friend Christene. Christene is busy working on her singing career or something wild like that. Meleah chose to go to China instead of Oaxaca. They were all excited to go, but because of lack of effeciency of spending (it'd be a waste to spend 5,000 on a trip that doesn't give them what they need for school), they couldn't come.

2) Revisit the discussion question about your first impressions of Oaxaca and your sense of it as a place. You can develop the thoughts you shared with the group or you can use the same comments.

Well, in the group, I said something like "Imagine a big outdoor mall in a big city in America. Only ten times more lively. And instead of everyone being white or mixed, they're all... Mexican." That's basically how I saw Oaxaca in the simplest of terms. In my mind, I was comparing it to Nigeria. I told my Nigerian friend "Oh, its like Nigeria only SO much more colourful! And its cleaner! And safer! And every boy is fiiine, girl." I know this sounds kind of shallow, but that's my FIRST impression of Oaxaca. I was very impressed. Some things I noticed that I thought were cute were the amount of PDA we saw in the park and the many tiny dogs and chihuahuas that people dressed up.

3) We visited the Church of Santo Domingo and the ex-convent, now the Cultural Museum. We also walked through several markets and visited a former convent which is now the Hotel Camino Real. Regarding these places, what 5 characteristics stand out as particularly important in terms of the physical space, the use of these places, and the overall experience? These could be aesthetic, historical, religious, cultural, or other.
These places all had a similar set up. There was a cathedral that was long. At the front was the alter. And in the back, upstairs, was a little deck. And on that back wall was a window which allowed light to come into the cathedral. That light would shine directly onto the alter. The convent and the monastery were connected to the cathedral. The doorways between the two always had the same arch shape. Many of the designs in the church are indicative to the dominican republic, the order of the church that was dominating the area. Also, in all of these churches, you could see elements of the native religion the natives used to believe in. You can tell because of the paintings of the moon and the sun, two important gods of the ancient religion. Also, baby jesus, one of the few things the natives fully accepted is represented in the paintings of baby faces all over the walls and ceilings. With all these hints of attachment to the old religion, you can feel a deep cultural mix when entering the cathedrals. As a Catholic, I am reminded that there are different ways to practice and different traditions even within the Catholic sect of christianity.





4) Which object in the museum was most intriguing or moving to you, and why? Describe the visual qualities of the artwork first; then explain its meaning and function, if known. Do you know if the object was Zapotec or Mixtec?
At the museum, I most liked the section of the wall from the Los Danzantes. I enjoyed that a lot because in the text, the discovers thought the limp limbs meant the figures were dancers, but our tour guide's interpretation was different. She saw it as paintings of different ailments. It is a Zapotec object. The reason this intrigued me the most is because I love the idea of academic debate. Later in highschool, I had come to realize that the textbook is not the end-all-be-all as I had once believed in my early youth. The textbook is written by someone who has studied something or seen something and drew his own conclusions. Someone could argue different conclusions! And getting to hear something that contradicts what the textbook says excites me and reminds me of the battle that goes on in academia. It shows that history can never be for sure. We can never know what really happened.

5) What is your impression of Professor Esther Bonilla so far? What is your favorite Esther moment or story?
So far, I love her. Prof. Esther me recuerda de tia mia. She is very energetic and theatrical which helps makes the history come to life. I have a tendency to get bored very easily. Prof. Esther must talk a lot, but her lecture is more of a performance, so I pay attention better! My favourite moment was the explanation of how mestizos discovered chocolate. (video)

6) Consider your experiences in the hands-on workshops with the potter Valente Nieto Reale in San Bartolo and the wood carvers Jacobo and Maria Angeles and their family in San Martin Tilcajete. What was your experience in the workshops? What struck you as characteristic of their particular art forms?
These were great experiences and people! I enjoyed meeting the artists and their sons and taking photos of their artwork the most! Especially Jacobo! He's was so sweet to me when I interviewed him and he loved my hair. The art forms are very artistic! Some things are simple like a simple cat or dog, and some things have a very good artistic quality. I enjoyed the most the structures that utilized space, making the air around the piece a part of the artwork. Use of curves and angles. For the Reale family, I enjoyed their structures of women and women with children the best. For the Angeles family, I enjoyed the contorted animals the best! They somehow envision the most interesting positions for the animals! And they must have that vision before the carve the wood, which tells me the family is very creative. Also, the painting is done with such detail that I truly admire!





7) How does the life and work of the artist relate to their surroundings?
Para la familia de Reale, it seemed like their surroundings was a lot of dirt and their work comes from exactly that. Dirt. They seem like people who live from the land and all their tools from the bowl, to the carving utensils to the thing that makes it shiny come from the Mother earth. For the Angeles family, you can see their whole home is very colourful and artistic. Likewise, their artwork is colourful and artistic. And many of the animals are someone's birth animal. I'm not sure what you call it, but it reminds me of the Zodiac. Jacobo told me his was the coyote, so I saw some structures of coyote. They also seem to be people who live by the land and so even the colours they use are from the mother nature.

8) At a deep level, how does their way of life differ from your own?
If I was living in Nigeria, their way of life probably wouldn't differ from mine in observation except for the fact that I might be braiding hair or doing house chores or something instead of that kind of art. On a deeper level, I think they would respect the earth and the world a bit more than we would in Nigeria because loving the earth is a part of their tradition and religion. In Nigeria, our religion is catholicism, but in Oaxaca, there seems to be many elements of Zapotec religion which seems more focused on what is on earth than a one and only celestial God. When I am in America, their life is much different. I do not feel much connection with the earth here in America. My artist material comes from a store and is manufactured in a factory whereas these families get their materials from the earth. Family is a very important thing for me (because I am Nigerian), but since my family is in America, we live more like Americans. From time to time we have extended family living with us, but eventually they must live as Americans and have their own house and their own specific and obvious family unit. Here, the families are meshed together. I couldn't tell who was who's wife and who was who's son. Even in-laws are living with the family and working on the craft. There is a lot of simple connections that simply do not exist in America.