- So the Museum of International Folk Art has dedicated an exhibit to this vibrant and colorful world of Cartoneria and I'd love to learn more about that world.

So can you tell me a little bit more about like the art and the history of Cartoneria?

- Of course.

Yeah, so the exhibit La Cartoneria Mexicana, the art of paper mache from Mexico really highlights the practice of using just basic materials like paper and glue to create this beautiful three-dimensional pieces.

And it's something that is part of many different communities across Mexico.

But in the exhibit we're actually highlighting three major areas, La Ciudad de Mexico, Celaya Guanajuato, and Nayarit.. And you know, like the history of Cartoneria is kind of hard to trace.

A lot of historians believe that it was brought by Catholic priests coming to to Mexico during the colonial period.

It's very interesting the way that we also laid out the exhibits to highlight that aspect of, of Cartoneria and how it's connected with a lot of festivals that are connected with the Catholic religion.

So can you tell me a - Little bit about the fire of Holy - Week?

So that's one of my, actually my, one of my favorite sections and the exhibit, because we actually have a lot of pieces that are kind of part of the femoral aspects of Cartoneria.

So we have this large Judas figure representing the apostle that betrayed Jesus.

And in this celebration a lot of Cartonerias created this large sculptures representing Judas, right?

And some of them are looking more like devils, right?

So some of them may have like horns and they're, they're red.

Some other ones may have even more decorative elements, like a lot of beautiful bright colors.

But what happens with those sculptures after they're created, they're actually burned down by using different fireworks.

They're attached to the figure.

And so after creating this beautiful piece, right, it is just destroyed during that celebration, right on Holy Saturday.

Something that was happening in the 1960s is that Cartoneros began to create a lot of figures and toys to sell to the children who were attending the festivals.

So being part of those processions, many of the toys that you see and vendors creating around this time were like, like dolls.

Also cartoon figures.

It's really interesting to see how pop culture played a huge influence in a lot of that.

- The exhibit spans Cartoneria roughly like 40 years, 1962, 2000.

So how does this timeframe reflect the changes that Cartoneria has gone through?

- Yeah, so as you move through the exhibit, we don't have as many names of the artists because they're meant to be used right objects that were part of celebrations.

And as you move a little bit farther into the exhibit, you begin to see names of artists like Pedro Linares, right?

Who was one of the early artists who started innovating in that form, creating objects that were meant to be collected because they were finely painted or they were so elaborative, right?

They had so many details.

Pedro Linares is an artist from Mexico City.

He was the creator of the Alibrijes, this mythical monster-like creatures.

And then also the, there's a long lineage of family that continue that tradition.

So the piece with the skeleton that was created by Felipe Linares, who was one of his sons and I believe he wanted to represent like the, the idea of death also being so alive, right?

With all the creatures crawling up.

But it's such a magnificent piece that shows like all the detail and like all the intricacy that can be applied to such a basic art form, right?

So it's, it's a really fascinating way how artists have just expanded that and not just limited to the traditional forms.

And what's your favorite part of the exhibit?

I love the pinatas, especially as an educator trying to walk a lot of children through the gallery and teaching them about this traditions, it's really fascinating when they find something that they're connected to.

One of the interesting ones that I always love to share is the seven-point star, the seven point star.

And the exhibit represents like the seven deadly sins, right?

So each point of the star represents one of the deadly sins that is part of the belief in the Catholic religion.

And so one of the ideas is that after you break the pinata, right, and a lot of the candy comes out, each is kinda your treat for holding and and not falling into doing those sins.

So it's kinda your reward, right?

And so that's something that is very interesting to me, how all of those forms have been created inspired by, by those ideals, right?

Belief systems.

I think that it's important to share this kind of art form of this traditions with people because of the, just the amazing creativity that is showcasing each of the pieces, but also the ingenuity of the artists as well.

Thinking of the very basic materials of using just any paper available, you know, water and flour to create like their paste to create these forms and how Cartoneria is such a big part of community as well.

I think that's something that is very important to think of.

Like art is around us all the time and is part of us, right?

Like we cannot disconnect that.

And so for me that's very valuable.

And also thinking of the how important this this art form is for a lot of Mexican individuals, right?

A lot of people who are being able to still be surrounded by this art form and be connected by, which I think is really beautiful.

And also there's just so much joy around it as well that I think everyone can really connect with.