"Tlaloc growing the sacred corn plant." Codex Borgia 20, brown Artwork - Limited Edition of 9

“Tlaloc growing the sacred corn plant.” Codex Borgia, sheet 20, Digitally enhanced by MM in 2022 on brown background. Years ago I included this Borgia pictogram in my photobook “Ñundeui, at the foot of the sky” published in 2008 in Mexico City. Back then I showed only the outlines of ancient pictograms afraid their exotic beauty and significance would overpower the candid Mixtec Indian girls and women I had portrayed in the late sixties in Mexico. But the pictograms and the Aztec poetry, “the ancient wisdom”, as Miguel Leon Portilla had called it, were ignored. In the late sixties I found a remnant of ancient Mexico on the Costa Chica of Oaxaca. I wanted to invent a tropical paradise where people lived in harmony with nature, a reality in those villages. But the “Mixteca de la Costa” was no paradise. Its lifestyle included poverty and distrust of foreigners. Also, seasonal subsistence farming is hard work threatened by droughts and disasters that can destroy crops. Rain is of paramount importance. In 2022, on reviewing the image, I got scared by its ill-fated iconography. The planting stick or “coa” broken and bleeding. Blood everywhere. A snake devours another serpent. Tlaloc, the rain god, throws disaster from the sky and the corn plant underneath is destroyed. Bad omens everywhere. I considered replacing the image with a pleasant illustration of the corn plant. But corn is so much more than food. Corn is the sacred plant of Mexico and the source and livelihood of all Mesoamerican civilizations. According to the Popol Vuh ancient Mexicans were made from corn. “From yellow corn and white corn their flesh was made…” “Tlaloc growing the sacred corn plant” illustrates the struggle of life in ancient Mexico. This pictogram is not only a frenzy of blood and destruction, but also a marvel of magic and mystery. With the help of Tlaloc, the mighty rain god, the sacred corn plant sustains Mexico and all Mesoamerican countries since pre-Columbian times.

Mixed Media:Digital on Paper

Artist Produced Limited Edition of:9

Size:19.7 W x 19.7 H x 0.1 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.