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Religious folk art, milagros and ex votos, how the simple beauty of faith creates a singular Mexican art form.

By Catherine Krantz

Mexico is a predominantly Catholic country with a long history of religious tradition born from the merging of Catholicism and pre-Hispanic beliefs. Mexican Catholics place their saints in very high regard and have very personal relationships with them. A very spiritual people, they believe in miracles and divine intervention, and believe their patron saints are watching over them daily. When they have bad fortune they seek assistance and when they have good fortune they think there's someone to thank. These solicitations and offerings are placed in churches and their simple and sincere beauty has spawned modern art forms, based on these traditions.

"Milagros", or miracles, are small gold, silver, copper or brass charms, depicting symbolic woes, they are placed in shrines or in churches, pinned to walls during prayers to ask for assistance. An ear of corn to ask for good crops, a leg, an arm, a pair of eyes, if medical problems with those areas are present or a heart for heart disease (or love), there are milagros for every conceivable affliction.

Symbolic offerings to direct your prayers, their effectiveness undisputed by their practitioners. These milagros, beautiful in their own right, are often sold individually as collectibles, often found in religious stores or stalls near churches. A folk art has arisen from this tradition where many milagros are nailed to pieces of wood, often in the shape of crosses or hearts, to be hung on the wall. A symbolic offering of all your needs placed together or merely an intriguing and attractive work of art, based on a long history of Mexican and Catholic tradition. You can find milagros in many Mexican folk art shops, locally at Galeria Maya and at Cococabaña Boutique, among others.

"Ex votos" are small religious paintings on canvas or metal, nowadays usually tin, giving thanks to a patron saint in the form of a narrative about some catastrophic or unhappy situation that has been miraculously resolved. These paintings have been made for hundreds of years and they tell fascinating stories of overcoming terrible things, with drawings depicting the event. Over time becoming intimate portraits of the hopes and fears of every day people now long gone. The oldest ones being valuable collectibles. Their topics span any imaginable calamity that could be survived by a person: earthquakes, car accidents, overcoming alcohol or drug abuse, cancer survival, violent altercations, a child's recovery from an illness. Near misses with death are common themes, but merely any wonderful happening that deserves thanks for, is an appropriate subject for an ex voto.

One Mexican artist, Alfredo Vilchis, has become a well known master of this form. People from all walks of life come to him with their stories, tragic tales that end well, and he puts their gratitude in paintings that they can hang in their churches. Originally a sign painter, he started making ex votos for friends and quickly became well known for it, dropping sign painting to pursue it full time. He still sells his paintings at the flea market in Mexico City every Sunday, but his work is now more often found in museums or in individual collections and less in churches, where they were often stolen. They call him "Alfredo de Vinci", he calls himself a "Painter of the Barrio", and dedicates his life's work of painting to the Virgen de Guadalupe. This past summer he was invited by the French government to set up a workshop in a small southern French village to paint the miracles of every day life as told to him by the villagers who came to see him. Proving how even a centuries' old tradition can evolve to encompass modern life with all its complicated tragedies and daily miracles. A wide array of Vilchis' work is on display (and for sale) at Cococabaña Boutique in Zihuatanejo.

Where to go:

Galeria Maya, Cuauhtemoc 42, centro Zihuatanejo, from the cinema on Cuauhtemoc, head 2 blocks away from the water, Tel: 554-4606

Cococabaña Boutique, Vicente Guerrero 5-A, centro Zihuatanejo, behind Restaurant Coconuts , Tel 554-2518

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