The Art That Made Mexico: Paradise, Power And Prayers

In this three-part series, artist Alinka Echeverria explores how, across the millennia, three major forces have propelled change and made their mark on Mexico.

• Nature and land, which have been the source of life and a cause of conflict since the earliest times
• The struggle for power, which has defined much of Mexico’s history
• Faith - as expressed in Mesoamerican gods and Christian iconography - which has been ever-present throughout Mexico’s existence. 

Alinka reveals how Mexican artists didn’t simply depict the moments that shaped their nation over the centuries, but were instigators and chroniclers of the very idea of what it means to be Mexican.

In this first episode, Alinka explores how nature and land have shaped Mexican art and how radical Mexican artists shook off the European influence that followed the Spanish Conquest of the 16th Century.

She looks at how, 100 years after independence in 1810, artists began to depict Mexico’s ancient landscapes, such as the symbolic volcanoes that dominate the Valley of Mexico, using a new style of painting that was resolutely Mexican, confirming the re-established connections between Mexico’s indigenous population and their land.

Publicity contact: SH8