Brujo de La Mancha
Your Unknown Hero, 2014
Hand cut paper bags and old calling cards. (Print)
17 x 11", framed 21 x 21"
Print edition 1 of 10

About the work
As a multidisciplinary, self-taught artist my mission is to awaken spirituality in the human mind utilizing the arts to emphasize a connection to self and others. I work in a wide range of media, including sculpting, painting, drawing, mural-making, collage, puppetry, writing, ceramics, performing, clay flutes, Aztec dance and music, digital video, photography, radio, and some acting. My artwork is a result of my lived experiences. As someone who did not have the privilege to attend art school my artmaking comes from an intuitive place, and is further influenced by my immediate surroundings, found and discarded objects, and individuals that are drawn to make art together with me. My goals are Cultural Exchange & Cultural Preservation.

Bio
Brujo is a multidisciplinary artist, trained in ancestral indigenous forms, and he is an innovator and autodidact in contemporary art. He was born in Mexico City into a mixed Mexican-indigenous and Spanish working-class family. In his childhood, during visits to his father's family around Xico, Veracruz, he experienced the surviving Mayan, Olmec, and Aztec cultures and their popular crafts. Like his grandmother who kept her indigenous traditions alive even after migrating from Xico, Veracruz to Mexico City, he continued these traditions after arriving in Southwest Philadelphia in 1998. Currently, Brujo has over twenty-four years of experience in community-building through popular arts in education among diverse populations in Philadelphia, which he accomplishes by living and working in the community, listening to what members are asking for, and helping them attain their community-centered objectives. Brujo has worked in international and multicultural settings, mostly in underprivileged communities through after-school programs, senior centers, juvenile correction centers, and with high-risk middle and high school students. This work has deepened his respect for community and diversity. He is the co-funder of the first Aztec Dance troupe in Philly and the Philadelphia Indigenous People Day Celebration 2010.

www.brujodelamancha.com
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