The Borderlands
USA/Mexico
Local Arts and Culture
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Oaxaca, Mexico
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Local Arts and Culture
Much of this documentary was shot in Oaxaca, in the southern part of Mexico. This region is of the world’s
great centers for crafts and folk art, with a history reaching back more than two thousand years. The
traditions are very much alive today. Many villages here specialize in a single craft: pottery from local
clays, weaving from sheep’s wool, basketry made of palm fronds, or alebrijes.
View video of Oaxaca, Mexico
Alebrijes
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In the village of Arrazola, many families have home studios where they carve copal wood from nearby forests into alebrijes (ah lay bree hays). Other family members do the intricate painting that brings these imaginative carvings to life. These wooden creatures – monsters, animals, and everything in between – are popular with tourists for their beauty and authenticity.
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A finished iguana
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An alebrije wolf
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A local artist of alebrijes
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3-D Ribbon Weavings
Priscilliano, like many from Oaxaca who now live near the US border, supports his family by weaving
little animals and baskets and selling them in Ciudad Juarez. “For us, [weaving] is like an inheritance
that our grandparents left us. And we go out in the city and find ways to earn money with our work.
Because we know there are others that when they get to city they don’t know where to go or what to do.
They don’t have money and they don’t know where to work to earn some money. But at least we can trust
that we know what to work on. Even though we know we will struggle, but we know that we can weave this
little animal and go to a house and sell it and we can earn 5 or 10 pesos and then share it with the family.
View video of Priscilliano making a weaving
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Priscilliano making a weaving
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Finished ribbon weavings
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Rosalina sells a weaving
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