Ancestry and Artistry: Maya textiles from Guatemala

Exhibition Overview

Guatemala is well known for the richness of its indigenous Maya culture, and the Museum has examples of highly elaborate clothing and accessories from a variety of communities throughout the region. They will be displayed alongside material from international museum collections and contemporary artwork by Guatemalan artists.

Maya traje, the distinctive traditional dress of the highland Maya, is the primary visual expression of Maya identity in Guatemala today. Throughout the 20th century and into the present, Maya clothing has gradually changed, and today handmade traditional styles of dress for everyday, festive and ceremonial occasions, exist alongside modern styles made with commercial cloth and machine embroidery. The vibrantly coloured weavings with evocative symbolic designs offer an array of unique insights into the dynamics of tradition and innovation, the local and the global, as they are reflected in everyday lives.