The humble and polite people of Cheran, that vended along side us at #Anarchapulco this year, had the most amazing original #art I found at the entire conference. The brother responsible for most of the bead art on the table also crafts traditional (and tribal) hand made clothing, which he was offering as well. He had a friend from his town translating everything into English for easier transactions between him and patrons of the conference.
The Charaneese had plenty of different colorful bead art types to choose from. They had Mexican Sugar-Skull and animal head sculptures, bracelets, anklets, and earrings of all different styles and varieties, necklaces, hand made combs, hair pieces, among many other items.
The symbolism behind the skulls depicted here represents honoring ancestors, and are associated with the holiday Dia de Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. They are called Sugar-Skulls, and are made to honor the spirits of the dead who are believed to visit their families. The skulls pictured here are a stylistic spin on traditional Mexican Sugar-Skulls.
"Sugar skulls are often used to decorate the gravestones of the deceased. The reason they are called “sugar skulls” is because the authentic sugar skulls were made out of clay molded sugar, decorated with feathers, colored beads, foils and icing" (1).
If you are unaware, the people of Cheran, Mexico were having the forests surrounding their town harvested against their will by criminal logging companies. The local citizens depend on their local forests for their food and other resources to live. Eventually, the people decided that enough was enough, and rose up to banish all corrupt politicians and tyrannical foreign police from their town.
Cheran now exists without a traditional local government, and instead holds regular counsels at public bonfire assemblies, where issues are discussed, and leaders and societal changes are voted on by everyone. Elections in the traditional sense however are completely banned. Some people there obviously know how to craft some skilled artisan work as well - inspired by #FREEDOM!
A great way to support locals from a sovereign town
If you would like more info about how Cheran achieved independence, the following video I recently found may interest you:
Resource:
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