Saturday, July 5, 2008

3b Mayan Art: Woman bloodletting ritual





3. I came across this piece of art by googling images for "Mayan Art". This is a period of art I am very interested in. They have a very recognizable art collection in that the figures have similar facial features. This particular piece pertains to humanities because the bloodletting ritual is a part of the Mayan culture.

4.

Observation: I see Mayan women piercing each other. The subject is on the bloodletting of the Mayan culture. It is a watercolor painting. I notice the artist uses loose brush strokes in the background with loose colors that are vibrant. For the women the artist uses a deep brown color, the skin tone of the Mayan people. The women are very masculine-looking with no particular attention to detail in the faces. There seems to be a distinct similarity in the faces of the women. The women are portrayed as veluptuous with extravagant headpieces. The green is very bold.

Interpretation: The piece is about the traditions and culture of life for Mayan women. It seems to be a group activity among the Mayan women and they all seem to be in harmony. The bloodletting ritual is also done by men, but it appears more painful and barbarrack than the women's version. This seems to be a right of passage for women of a certain age because babies are not seen in the painting. It can be viewed as a bonding ritual between the Mayan women.

Judgement: I chose this particular piece because I felt it portrayed a good example of traditions and culture of the Mayans. I was also curious about the "bloodletting ritual" and what it was and thought I would gain more knowledge on this topic if I studied the art. It makes me curious as to what type of ritual this is. It makes me think that they were very tied to their culture and their way of life because of the way they all sit around and perform this ritual many times over. It makes me happy, because it makes me compare it to womanly rituals in our culture, maybe not bloodletting, but soicalizing and being of one with body, mind, and spirit. I can see the similarities between our two cultures, because even though there are no words, a pictures says so much more about the bonding and closeness these women are experiencing. I feel this way because this is how I have been raised in my own culture and this is my perspective on the piece as to how I have been raised and taught.

Questioning: I know that this painting is of women piercing themselves for a bloodletting ritual. What I would like to know is what the "bloodletting ritual" consists of. I wonder if they left the piercings in and how they used the piercings for cultural markings. I would like to know who painted it, what they used to paint it with, when it was painted, if they were painting from live art or imagination.

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