kikij --
I have good news. A copy of "Mayan Hearts" may be purchased directly
from Taller Lenateros (translated as Woodlanders' Workshop), who are
the Mexican paper artisans that printed and assembled 1000 copies of
the book by hand. The price is $100US (plus $25US shipping).
As e-mail I have received from Taller Lenateros indicates that the
method of payment should be a bank draft directed to a specified bank
account of that organization. Since I cannot post that account
information here, I suggest that you contact the organization directly
and arrange for the purchase. My correspondent's name is "Andres."
The e-mail address and a telephone number is contained at the end of
this linked page of the organization's website:
Los Leñateros Studio
http://plato.ess.tntech.edu/cventura/paper.htm
Please let me know if you have any problem reaching Taller Lenateros,
and I will provide further assistance.
My correspondent also provided some other information that I can share
with you. He informs me that the Smithsonian's National Museum of
Natural History is planning a "special … exhibition dedicated to the
book and its production" in February. Here is a link to that museum's
website, with contact information, in case you want make further
inquiries about that upcoming exhibit:
National Museum of Natural History
http://www.mnh.si.edu/
Finally, here is the text of the English-language press release from
Taller Lenateros about "Mayan Hearts," which provides some information
about the book and it creators that is not contained in the
Smithsonian Magazine article:
[BEGINNING OF PRESS RELEASE] "Mayan Hearts is a magical love tale,
told in realistic Tzotzil Mayan metaphors for heart, ranging from "My
heart is a warrior" to "I perfume your heart" to "My heart is a book."
Author Robert M. Laughlin, a Smithsonian anthropologist, linguist and
pre-eminent Mayan scholar, found the parade of poetic metaphors for
the heartfelt romance in a unique copy of a lost colonial
Spanish-Tzotzil dictionary languishing in the library of his alma
mater, Princeton University.
The "magical realist" story is superbly illustrated by whimsical,
lyrical silkscreen images created by the late Uruguayan artist Naúl
Ojeda in bold black and red, colors said by Aztec peoples to symbolize
writing.
The final story is love besieged yet love triumphant in the Chiapas
highlands of southern Mexico. Handmade with heart in the colonial
state capital of San Cristóbal de las Casas by the mestizo and Maya
paper artisans of "Taller Leñateros" (or "Woodlanders´ Workshop"), the
romance comes in two heart-lifting versions of 500 copies each: "Mayan
Hearts " in Tzotzil-English and "Diccionario del corazón" in
Tzotzil-Spanish.
Taller Leñateros, which has been documenting and celebrating
Amerindian culture for nearly thirty years, painstakingly printed and
assembled this first edition one by one, turning flora to paper and
translating Ojeda's graphics into bright silk-screen images. Entire
woodblocks or pieces were cut to match the metaphors. Mistletoe brewed
with the fiber prevents the wooly black maguey cover - pierced with a
red heart - from shedding. The index is a spinning heart. Other pages
harbor a multitude of graphic surprises. Many stand out.
The art books are "stamped and mackled in Sun and Moon Silkscreen.
They mirror the words of a popular Mexican song that pleads: "They say
my heart is an open book that many have written in. Don't listen to
them, it's all a lie: no one wrote a word. For you I am a blank page:
Write on me. I need you."
"This romance came to life after a long journey," Laughlin explained.
The original dictionary, compiled by an anonymous Dominican friar in
the late 1590s, was lost in 1914 when the horses of the Revolutionary
army of General Carranza were intentionally stabled in the bishop's
library in San Cristóbal and allowed to eat their way through its
contents. A unique copy made earlier by the bishop wandered
half-forgotten through various hands before settling in the Princeton
library vault.
"An infinity of expressions derived from heart", were uncovered by the
diligent friar, leading "back to the very heart of Mayan
understanding," reconfirmed by Laughlin. While documenting the Tzotzil
language of Santo Domingo Zinacantan, the friar discovered that the
indigenous group considered "the heart not only the source of emotion
but also the true seat of thought and reason.” Everything we call
"human" was there in the heart, Laughlin said, recalling that "only
under Spanish rule did the mind become divorced from the heart and set
in the head." Modern Mayas still use dozens of metaphors for heart in
everyday speech and still hold the same understanding of its
importance.
But for many years, "I lived with the hope of creating a love story
drawn from colonial Tzotzil Mayan hearts," Laughlin said. With the
aid of artist Naúl Ojeda and of Ámbar Past and her colleagues in
Taller Leñateros, the majority of whom are Tzotzil, “my dream has come
into reality.” The valiant old offset press used for parts of the book
was “giving off heartbeats as it printed,” Laughlin recalled.
Leading block print artist Naúl Ojeda, who lived since 1975 in
Washington, D.C, sadly died June 6, 2002, unable to see the book
completed, although, "he never lost hope." Ojeda´s "magic realism"
will remain alive in this passionate art-heart-book, forever
"refreshing and recodifying old metaphors." [END OF PRESS RELEASE]
Additional Site:
Here is the website of the late Naul Ojeda, the printmaker who
contributed to Mayan Hearts:
Naul Ojeda
http://members.aol.com/naulojeda/
Google Search Terms:
"naul ojeda"
'mayan hearts"
"amber past"
"laughlin smithsonian"
This information seems to be exactly what you are looking for. If any
of the above information needs clarification, please let me know
before rating the answer.
markj-ga |
