Contemporary Paintings, Photographs and Textiles Offer a Look at the Maya People of Guatemala

The contemporary Maya people of Guatemala are the subject of a colorful summer exhibition at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. "Mayan Procession" features 14 large-scale contemporary oil paintings by artist Winifred Godfrey. The Museum's display includes 32 color photographs of the Maya people taken by the artist between 1992 and 2003, as well as traditional, hand-woven Maya clothing and textiles from the collections of the artist and William Goldman. "Mayan Procession" runs through September 26, 2004.

The paintings that make up "Mayan Procession" offer the viewer just that--a sequence of life-size canvases with Maya people marching in or following a procession. Beginning with "Drummers and Flute," the five and six feet tall paintings offer imposing portraits of men and women, in solemn motion. The final painting, "Zunil Cemetery"--the largest of the series at 96 by 52 inches--finds a group of women, backs to the viewer, in full traditional dress kneeling in the cemetery on the day of All Souls, while others in their group fly traditional kites in communication with the dead.

The artist notes, in the exhibition introduction, "In painting this particular sequence of canvases I wanted visual continuity while depicting many different costumes from various villages in Guatemala. The procession starts full frontal, but ends from the back in the cemetery. My hope was to create the feeling of the visitor standing in one place as the procession passes by."  

The paintings were displayed at Penn Museum March 26, 2004, as part of the opening reception for the Museum's annual Maya Weekend and remained on view outside the Rainey Auditorium for several weeks. This summer exhibition offers "Mayan Procession"--with the addition of the photographs and textiles--in the Museum's Merle-Smith Changing Exhibitions gallery.

Ms. Godfrey's 8 inches x 12 inches color photographs were taken in different villages in the highlands of Guatemala while she was researching her "Mayan Procession" paintings. The candid images record people interacting in everyday activities--in the market, at festivities and in the cemetery.

Indigenous costume and traditional dress is a prominent element of both Ms. Godfrey's paintings and photographs, and for this exhibition she collaborated with folk art collector William Goldman to include a half dozen full costumes, plus other textiles, on display.

In Guatemala, Ms. Godfrey notes, Maya traditional dress varies from village to village, providing local identity, cultural meaning and continuity for weavers and wearers alike. In recent decades, a long and bitter civil war and outside influences have been responsible for a significant decline in the weaving and wearing of traditional clothing. "My intention with 'Mayan Procession' is to celebrate the rich and ancient culture of the Maya people, while making a record of the rapidly changing cultural traditions embodied in Maya textiles."

Artist Winifred Godfrey has been exhibiting her paintings at galleries and art museums around the country since 1972. "Mayan Procession" first opened at the Holland Museum in Holland, Michigan in 1996. The exhibition has since been shown many times, including at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University, in 1999, and in Washington D.C. at the Organization of the American States in 2002. She received her M.F.A. and B.S. at the Art University of Wisconsin, in Madison, Wisconsin. Ms. Godfrey resides in Chicago, Illinois.

A full-color commemorative booklet containing all the photos of "Mayan Procession" and more information about the artist, is available in the Museum Shops for $1. Prints of several of Ms. Godfrey's photographs are on sale in the shops.