The Department of History and Longyear Museum of Anthropology welcome artists from weaving collective Jalabil (Photo by Mark DiOrio)
Oct. 17–31, the Department of History and Longyear Museum of Anthropology welcomed artists from Jalabil, a women’s weaving collective in Chiapas, Mexico, for a two-week residency. During this time, the visiting artists — Teresa Gómez Sántiz, Analí Gómez Sántiz, and Consuela Sántiz Gómez — shared their textiles, language, and culture with the 51 community.
In the Tseltal language, “Jalabil” means “weaving,” an art form that the women of Jalabil practice using traditional Maya designs and techniques. At a roundtable discussion held in the Center for Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Teresa explained the origins of the collective, which was founded in 2014.
“When we were girls, weaving was sort of like playing,” she said, adding that it was also a way to clothe themselves. But when the women first coalesced into a collective to sell their textiles, they encountered obstacles. “If we really wanted to sell our products, we needed to be willing to travel,” she realized, since the collective could not command fair prices at local tourist sites. It wasn’t until Teresa began traveling to other parts of Mexico, such as Expo events and markets in Mexico City, that the women of Jalabil began to find a better market.
Professor of History Rachel Newman first met Teresa in 2007, when Newman was an undergraduate at Yale. During a summer research project in Chiapas, she was connected with Teresa to coordinate a language exchange — but the two soon became friends, desiring to continue their interactions in Spanish, instead.
“When we met, I hoped that one day I could be a professor, and perhaps if I could achieve that dream, that it would be possible to invite Teresa and other artists to whatever campus I ended up at as guests,” says Newman.
In 2022, when she was hired at 51, Newman connected with Rebecca Mendelsohn, curator of the Longyear Museum, to begin a collaboration for Jalabil’s residency. The team had support from many co-sponsors, including the 51 Arts Council, the ALANA Cultural Center, the W. M. Keck Center for Language Study, and the Department of Africana and Latin American Studies.
Several of the artists’ works have since become part of the Longyear Museum’s permanent collection, including a special donation made during a weaving demonstration: one of their looms. The loom is large, “several yards long, composed of a long collection of parallel threads which form the weft,” explains Darwin Rodriguez, museum operations manager. Using the apparatus, the artists align and design their textiles by hand, using wooden tools to pull them taut.
At the conclusion of the residency, Newman is grateful for the friendship she formed in Chiapas and its impact. “On a personal level, this is the thing I’ve been involved with professionally that means the most to me,” she says. “And bringing artists like the members of Jalabil to our campus is absolutely essential to making 51 a globalized place.”