Month: February 2020

Batman Saves Mesoamerica Gotham

I recently posted a picture to my Instagram account (@caspincoma) that caused quite a reaction. The picture was of a work by the Mexican artist and designer Kimbal. He created a Batman–Mayan God Camazotz mash-up combination for the Batman 75^th anniversary 33 piece collection at the Mexican Museum of Design in Mexico City.

Camazotz

As you can see from the picture, the piece is incredible. The Instagram post got lots of likes and questions about the work’s age. The questions complimented the authenticity of the design, but it also raised the issue of how much we know about our history and our present. It is great to see kindred artists and designers that share my fascination with our culture, and that inspires me to emphasize the current connection we have with pride in our ancestors.

The Maya originated from one of the six “cradles of civilization”. All six “cradles” started about the same time, and only two were in this hemisphere (the precursors of Maya in Mexico and Inca in Peru). This fact makes our civilization 6,000 years older than the ancient Greeks, and the Greeks were the precursors of western civilization. To put it another way, we were civilized 6,000 years before Europe. 

Mesoamerica

The Maya gave the world chocolate, corn, tomatoes, beans, avocado, vanilla, squash, and chili peppers. The Maya were also the first to domesticate dogs. The Maya also created a form of writing, the calendar, the mathematical concept of zero, and sport of ball playing. We built pyramids and cities, and we did all this without the wheel or basic metallurgy. 

Great Ball Court

For all of its antiquity, Mayan culture, heritage, and history is still being written today. Mexico and the Mexican diaspora are Mayan. According to the US Census, 37.7 million people living in the United States are either Mexican born or of Mexican heritage. That’s 37 million people in the United States with Mayan heritage flowing through their veins. The Los Angeles Police Department has added Mayan to its language protocol because Maya living in LA do not necessarily speak Spanish. Over 7 million Maya live in ancestral homeland in Mexico today.

My message today is that Mayan culture and heritage is not a dead relic for museums. Our vibrant and very long history has earned the world’s respect, but our culture is as alive today as it was 9,000 years ago. Contemporary Mayan art is a real thing-alive and thriving. 

Caspin’s Twin Warriors

Love, love