Tag Archives: Mexico

Americas’ Oldest Surviving Book

Posted on October 27, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

For the first time in more than 50 years Los Angeles’s J. Paul Getty Museum is displaying ten of the remaining pages from Códice Maya de México, the oldest surviving book of the Americas. Dating to circa 1100 CE, the Mayan Codex … Continue reading →

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Día de los Muertos in NYC

Posted on November 1, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

For countless generations the indigenous people of what is now the nation of Mexico  have celebrated Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. The exhuberant celebration of life and death occurs annually during the first two days of … Continue reading →

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Year of the Mask

Posted on March 22, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

“Beyond Noh” by Patrick Smith is a mesmerizing trip through thousands of mask from around the world, including the now ubiquitous Covid-19 protective devices.  The vivid images span dozens of cultures and time periods and shift from one to the next … Continue reading →

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Teeter Totter

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

Although it only lasted for less than an hour, the Teeter Totter Wall created by Rael San Fratello with Colectivo Chopeke made international headlines when it was installed in July 2019, and has now been launched back into the spotlight … Continue reading →

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Sea of Cortez

Posted on December 8, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

We know it as the Gulf of California, but in 1940 it was called the Sea of Cortez. In that year, the novelist John Steinbeck and marine biologist Ed Ricketts  traveled there to research a book project on the region’s … Continue reading →

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TGI Frida

Posted on April 3, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Faces of Frida is one of the most extensive curations on the iconic Mexican artist ever assembled and it’s available through the Google Arts and Culture app. Comprised of 800 Frida Kahlo paintings, artifacts, high-resolution images and features, it offers … Continue reading →

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TGIF

Posted on March 8, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

Thank god it’s Frida.

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A Book Is An Altar

Posted on July 9, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

The Portable Mayan Altar  was created by Taller Leñateros (The Woodlander’s Workshop), an indigenous publishing house in Chiapas, Mexico founded by poet Ámbar Past in 1975. This book features a cardboard case in the form a traditional Mayan house that opens up … Continue reading →

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Dance Macabre

Posted on October 31, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

 La portentosa vida de la muerte (The Prodigious Life of Death) by Joaquín Bolaños, is a late 18th century Mexican novel that stars Death as a female protagonist ( la muerte in Spanish is a feminine noun).  The story begins in the Garden … Continue reading →

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Kafka Meets The Matrix

Posted on October 11, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

Mexican writer/director Pablo Calvillo’s animated short film Inksect is an intense Kafkaesque vision of a dystopian future where books are burned. Still, there’s some hope for bibliophiles in this surreal world captured in an engaging and original animation style. Be sure … Continue reading →

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