Cihuateteo (2020)
$55.00
Institutional pricing (libraries, universities, for use on tv/movies etc) . Please contact us for invoicing or a custom listing: $110
Melanie Cervantes
7 – Layer, 5 color Handmade Screen Print, 12" x 16", 140 lb/300gsm Canson cold press white watercolor paper, Printed in my kitchen San Leandro, CA 2020
Edition of 90
My first print of the year and the decade elevates and honors the cihuateteo. The Cihuateteo were Mexica women who became powerful goddesses after they died in childbirth. For the Mexica childbirth was a form of battle and when women died giving birth they were honored as warriors. "The bodies of women who had died in labor were seen as divine. Their bravery was admired by their community. After the funeral ceremonies were done, the male relatives would guard the woman’s remains from warriors who would steal parts of their body as tokens of courage. The Mexica also believed that the cihuateteo accompanied the sun during its journey from sunrise to sunset." The cihuateteo figures were excavated in 1907 in Mexico City after being found at a temple that was located underneath the first department store built there.
