Open Museum BlogProject Profile: Chiapas, Mexico
Mayan textile collection*
Chiapas, Mexico
December 2007
* Project partner: Maya Solidarité
PHOTO (banner): Juan Ignacio Piedras
O V E R V I E W
The following data is from the dossier of Maya Solidarité, a French non-profit organization which provides support for hygiene, education, and health care to the indigenous people of Chiapas, Mexico in the hopes that they can conserve the cultural, ecological and social richness of the region.
The mission of Maya Solidarité is above all:
- to respect the ways of life and the customs of the indigenous communities.
- to assure adequate support for their needs
- to validate and preserve the social and cultural richness of the communities.
Overview of the museum:
- Location: 38 Guadalupe Victoria – San Cristobal de las Casas
- Responsible party: Sergio Castro Martinez
- Number of visitors per month: 60
Regional context:
In the face of a rural exodus, mountain villages are becoming less and less populated and the remaining population is losing its connections to the culture and tradition. The Mayans are becoming strangers in their own land.
The prospects for the future are meagers: the peasant farmers have only the following alternatives to work for the large land owners, to work for large agri-business firms or to leave for the US. The absence of agricultural reform is the heart of the problem. NAFTA doesn’t favor the small producer (like the Mayans) at all. Given the economic, as well as political situation, shanty towns continue to grown at a fast rate around large cities, like San Cristobal las Casas.
C U R R E N T S I T U A T I O N
The principal goal of the museum is to introduce the public (principally foreigners) to the diversity of contemporary Mayan culture. The museum also raises money for projects in public health (clean water) and education (school construction). The museum possesses a 100 traditional formal and daily outfits coming from different communities in Chiapas. It is unique because typically all clothing is buried with the dead along with all of their personal possessions. The museum also has the following objects in its collection: masks, jewelry, musical instruments, statues, religious objects. The collection has always been kept in a rented space because the museum lacks the funds to buy a space. For this reason, the collection has never been placed on exhibit.
The modest means of the museum do not permit the hiring of staff. So Sergio shows the collection upon request. The visit includes a slide show about daily life of the Maya and a guided visit to the rented space. The entrance is free and visitors are invited to make a contribution to the S.Castro Foundation.
The Museum is situated in San Cristobal de las Casas which is located in the center of the villages whose clothing is represented in the collection. The museum has no financial support. Nonetheless the collection is sometimes borrowed by the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City for temporary exhibits, which shows the unique character of this collection.
Maya Solidartité helps the museum by housing a collection of exceptional traditional costumes.
W O R K S H O P
O B J E C T I V E S
Because of the precarity of the museum, Heritance proposes the following intervention:
- Protect and facilitate the long term conservation of costumes which are currently exposed to numerous destructive agents: light, touch, chemicals, bacteria (especially the plant-based fabrics from the Lacandon community.
- Create an exhibit and furthermore make it compatible with traveling exhibits and long-term storage (display w/ light, labels & adequate in all respects for long-term storage).
- Develop a self-guided visit to increase the number of visits possible to the collection.
H E R I T A N C E A C T I O N S
- Workshops on site in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico for 10 days in December 2007.
- Visit to the museum & the related organization w/ all stakeholders to take stock of participants and their roles/responsibilities.
- Introduce museum team to Heritance communications system, Basecamp for long-distance planning & decision-making. On-site demonstration.
- Discussion & planning of museography program (interpretation of collections for exhibit creation).
- Evaluation of the museum collections for quality, status, value, historical significance.
- Create inventory of collections accompanied by photos.
- Synopsis of exhibit design & implementation.
- Research for local resources for exhibit creation: builders, scientific collaborators, graphic artists.
- Discussion and adoption of plan and the steps for its realization.
- Assignment of a communications liaison to make weekly reports to Heritance and participate in Basecamp/email exchanges.
W O R K S H O P O U T C O M E S
A. Synopsis of the exhibition project
Our excellent working relationship with Sergio Castro enabled us to quickly refine the scope of our work. By assessing the existing information and Sergio's recommendations, we created "an Exhibition project" which is available on basecamp in the "files" section.
Starting from Sergio's specific proposal, we were able to work on site and produce a draft exhibition plan. This plan, which is currently being refined, will soon be available in 1/100 form in the "files" section of the Heritance website.
C. Drafts of furniture design
The analysis of the contents and the state of the collection, of the site of the museum and general programming principles made it possible to outline, to conceive, then to work out a proposed model to the 1/10 of a standard showcase. The fundamental principles selected are described in the "museum project".
D. Didactic contents of the future visit
Christiane Eckert, who recorded several guided tours by Sergio, is drafting an outline of the new labels. Christine will submit this draft to Sergio for correction and refining. This work, once completed, she will write the content of the presentation panels, following a similar process.
E. The graphic charter
It was proposed that Maya Solidarité, which has a professional graphic designer on staff, will execute the design work specific to the museum. This project will be the subject of a later meeting in Strasbourg.
F. The installation of a file to collect funds
Heritance will produce, in the weeks to come, a complete technical dossier including/understanding:
- a photographic inventory of the proposal
- the synopsis of the museum project
- the plan (at the 1/100level) of the museum
- a detailed explanation (at the 1/20 or 1/10 level) of the exhibition features proposed.
- a proposed cost estimate for the project.
This document will enable Maya Solidarité to approach and impress potential donors.
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