Nierika
It is the latest work by the Spanish art collective Boa Mistura in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Almost 5000 square meters distributed among three buildings, two facades and a huge floor that have become one of the most depressed points of the Colonia Infonavit Independencia in a large square for neighbors.
The creation process has included the community since the beginning of the project in January 2017; first through some surveys that inspired two lines of work that were put to a vote among the neighbors, being they themselves who chose what was going to be painted in their place.
During the execution, carried out during November 2017, five neighbors were hired in unemployment to be part of the team, in addition to the many neighbors who joined selflessly, as well as students from the University of Guadalajara, who accompanied the process of principle to end.
The work is based on the wixárika worldview, the majority indigenous people in the Jalisco area and the adjacent states.
The NIERIKA is the transgenerational mirror of the wixaricas.
An amalgam of energy that prolongs the wisdom of the ancestors in the following generations, and guiding them to build the future.
"The niérika allows the wixaritari to put order in their daily life, to live in unity in a world in which, otherwise, it would be chaotic and unpredictable.
It also allows them to relate the present with the past, and, for this reason, it allows them to live with awareness of their history and know that they are the ones who will design their own future "
(Luz Chapela)
FUI, SOY, SERÉ (I am, I was, I will be) are the words that shout the three facades that surround the plaza, and that represent the strength of the identity of the Mexican people.
The richness of his past, the firmness to keep him alive in the present and the knowledge that in the hands of the people of today is keeping his identity beating in the future.
In the work, two of the main instruments to access the Nierika are also represented:
On the two central facades, the Hi'íkuri, as the peyote is called in the Wixárika culture. Its ritual consumption is associated with the ability to see, to understand the world from the divine revelations. It provides a way to understand the world beyond the obvious.
On the floor of the square, the Tsi + kri, a Nierika of utmost importance.
Legend has it wixárika that Kayumarie, one of the gods of creation, looked through the Tsik + ri to see the world in its entirety, and know that it was exactly what he wanted to create. It also serves as a guide and as an element of protection.
The work has been possible thanks to the support of the Madrid City Council, Guadalajara City Council, FIL Guadalajara, Pinturas Prisa and, in particular, to the unconditional support of the residents of the Infonavit Independencia Housing Unit and the volunteers of the University of Guadalajara.
