The Project

---

Following our triumphant debut in France in 2019, we are thrilled to introduce “Nahuales and Alebrijes” to the United States, inspired by the captivating world of Mexican magical realism. This extraordinary project showcases six to eight monumental original works from Mexico, each standing 20 feet tall, in prominent public spaces. The exhibition pays tribute to Mexican artisans’ exceptional craftsmanship and celebrates Mexico’s rich cultural legacy.

Beginning in April 2025, Fantastic Animals from Mexico: Alebrijes and Nahuales will embark on a nationwide tour, engaging thousands of people in public spaces across the United States. In partnership with local communities and institutions, we will collaborate in meaningful community engagement activities that foster arts accessibility, local diversity, and unparalleled cultural exchange.

Outreach programs can include:

- Preschool Visits:

• Engaging young minds with miniature Alebrijes, interactive storytelling, and creative drawing activities, fostering an early appreciation for cultural diversity.

- Pen Pal Programs:

• Connecting children from the U.S. and Mexico through pen pal exchanges, enhancing language skills and cultural understanding.
• Sculpture and Creative Writing Workshops: These hands-on workshops explore Mexican stories and legends and guide participants in Making Alebrijes.

- Conferences and Artist Talks:

• Working with local community members, we can organize conferences that delve into popular art, Zapotec literature, and the cultural significance of Alebrijes and nahuals, enriching knowledge and appreciation of Mexican heritage.

- Educational Exchange Programs:

• Facilitating educational exchange programs between schools and universities in the U.S. and Mexico, promoting academic collaboration and cultural immersion.

- Artistic and Cultural Events:

• To complement the exhibition, we will organize vibrant artistic and cultural events and celebrations with local partners, celebrating Mexican culture’s rich traditions and creativity.
  

TONAS & NAHUALES FROM THE OAXACA ZAPOTEC PEOPLES

TONAS (originated in the Nahuatl language —the soul of an animal designated to protect a human being).
NAHUALES (originated in the Nahuatl language —a man of knowledge who has the ability or power to shift into an animal).

• Oaxaca, a state in the South of Mexico, is an important dwelling place for 16 of the 54 living First-Nation ethnic groups that exist in our country. Among them, the Zapotec culture is an outstanding one.
  Regarding the subject I’ll deal with in this text, I want to make a special mention of the Mitla and Monte Albán archeological sites which precede the vast culture and creativity of the First-Nation Zapotec villages. Some of these villages—all of them belonging to the Zapotec ethnic group in the State of Oaxaca—are San Antonio Arrazola Xoxocotlán, San Martin Tilcajete Ocotlán, and San Pedro Cajonos, in Sierra Juárez.
  A current outstanding artistic movement is that of woodcarving in the villages of Arrazola, Xoxocotlán, San Martín Tilcajete, and San Pedro Cajonos, among other communities that use as their reference and inspiration the popular worldview inherited via Zapotec stories, legends, and myths. And some of the most recurring ones are the fantasy characters present in the imagination of the First-Nation peoples in Oaxaca and the rest of Mexico: Tonas and Nahuales.
  As part of the history of these popular-art expressions in Oaxaca and Mexico, I want to pay special recognition to a popular artist born in the 20th century in Mexico City: Don Pedro Linares López (June 29, 1906 – January 25, 1992)—recipient of the 1990 National Prize for Arts and Science in the field of Popular Arts & Traditions—was born in the neighborhood of La Merced and was a famous Judero, an artist who used papier mâché to make sculptures used in popular parties in Mexico City. Don Pedro Linares is recognized for creating, originating, and giving birth to the figurines known as “Alebrijes,” which have been documented since the 1940s. As Don Pedro said, he was at death’s door when he had a revelation in dreams—various animals would fuse together in a transformation filled with fantasy and colors. According to him, these animals kept repeating a word: “alebrije, alebrije, alebrije.”
  Taking into account this explanation, I return now to the history of the popular artists in the State of Oaxaca. In terms of woodcarving, one of the originators was Don Manuel Jiménez Ramírez (1919-2005), born in San Antonio Arrazola, Xoxocotlán, Oaxaca, who mentioned in his biography and anecdotes that he began making clay figurines and using copal and tzompantli wood to carve toys since he was a child.
  Later on, he got a job as a guard in Monte Albán, where he had the opportunity to meet and talk to Alfonso Caso, the archeologist who discovered this archeological site.
  Don Manuel had a portentous imagination and devoted himself to woodcarving, making figurines that he began decorating with anilines and this was documented in popular-art books published in the 1970s.
  A follower of him was master Isidoro Cruz Hernández (1934-2015), born in San Martín Tilcajete, Oaxaca, who has mentioned that as a child he began carving wood figurines depicting a moving rabbit and his well-known maromeros, or acrobats. Later on, he would begin making carnival masks in a uniquely original style. In his youth, his profession was “assistant to a cart maker.” And then, when he got in touch with the National Museum of Popular Cultures, in Mexico City, he and a group of artisans from San Martín Tilcajete began carving animal figurines and scenes of everyday peasant life which were commercialized in the 1970s and 1980s in Oaxaca as well as at an international level. Thus, artisanal activity became the economic basis in those villages.
  This exhibition projects these fantastic characters to a colossal dimension through beautiful creations which will be admired in various areas of the USA, focusing on great masters of the genuine art from Oaxaca which I’ll mention now: Angélico Jiménez Hernández, from San Antonio Arrazola; Constantino Blas, from San Pedro Cajonos; María Florentina Jiménez Ojeda, Efraín Fuentes, Margarito Melchor, and Adrian Xuana, from San Martín Tilcajete Ocotlán not to forget the great master cartoneros descendants of Don Pedro Linares, creator of the "Alebrijes" Felipe and Leonardo Linares, all of them All of them have achieved an enormous level of quality and mastership in their sculptural work and have perfected their professional technique to create works that tell us about a past culture that is as majestic and impressive as their current pieces and this says a lot about the “great cultural bastion” that Oaxaca represents, both in Mexico and globally.
  
  

Carlomagno Pedro Martínez
National Prize for Arts and Science, 2014
Director of the Oaxaca State Museum of Popular Art