The number of Huichols or “Wixalika”, who are some of the last remaining descendants of the Aztecs, is estimated at around 7,000. The rugged and remote terrain of the mountainous Huichol homeland, as well as the fact that the Huichols had little to plunder, helped these people escape the pillage of the Spanish conquistadors. The Huichol Indians today live in small communities high in the Western Sierra Madre in the states of Nayarit, Jalisco and Zacatecas
Miguel Carillo Montoya
The primary focus of their belief system is the ritual ingestion of the hallucinogenic peyote cactus. (It is used, of course, as an integral part of their religious ceremonies, and is never used recreationally. When the drug is eaten the voyager goes into a ritual dream in search of a pantheon of 90 deities, mostly female, and this becomes the basis for a translation to other member of the tribe of the symbolic meaning of the induced visions.
You can find examples of Miguel’s work at the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City, as it is truly representative of those mystical voyages and of his Huichol ancestry. Miguel and his brother share a small shack at the Palacio de la Artesanía in Mexico City in order to sustain their four families back in Santa Catarina.
In some areas of the Huichol homeland the traditions remain strong, but in others the influence of the modern “conquistadores” is being felt. A greater exposure to the ways of the modern world, social ills such as alcoholism, disease, cultural alienation, and suicide have had a deadly impact on the Huichols. Some members of the tribes are now seen on the streets as displaced beggars.
We would like to help Miguel find a way to support his family and see that they do not necessarily have to make the journey to complete assimilation, and, in effect, a slow but eventual extinction. The knowledge of the Wixalika is much too valuable for the world to lose. In a sense it is perhaps our duty to find ways to allow the Huichols to enter the 21st century without compromising the spirit of these people.
As with any of the works here on our pages, we do not offer internet sales, however if you see any particular piece from Miguel that you are interested in or care to see any piece in detail, we can arrange a meeting at our gallery or send you more detailed images. Please use our contact page.
