How do you get a pig into a sack?

How do you get a pig into a sack?

Visual art has to be done on a canvas, you say?

This carpet from Oaxaca, Mexico, cost me a hefty sum. That can be attributed to the fact that its author, Luis Martinez Jimenez, is the finest carpet-maker in Oaxaca. This was the only work of his which I found containing action; set against the backdrop of village life, we see people trying to put a pig into a sack.

A Google search for how to get a pig into a sack, unfortunately, turned up no results.

Here on the carpet, we can see the proper sequence of actions. Villagers grab the pig’s hind legs and direct him (or her) into the sack. Sure, the piggy is not enjoying this, but he’s got nowhere to run – only into the sack that two Zapotec women are holding out for him.

Does anyone still doubt the idea that art belongs to the people?

Lint-free carpets with a narrative or plant composition are generally referred to as “tapestries”. Tapestries typically have a particular point of view, and an observer thus looks at them how the author wants them to. In this case, we are dealing with a narrative composition that was crafted using local colors and lacks the subtle transitions that enrich the color scheme of a given linen-based work. But this narrative is interesting in that it reveals and illustrates all the elements of day-to-day life among the Zapotec people. The viewer is presented with a natural environment, architectural elements, images of Native Americans in their everyday attire and even forms of employment. The tapestry’s decorative nature conflicts with the elements of perspective that have been placed in the image – in the architecture as well as certain shapes – which leads one to surmise that the author is not a traditional “carpet master”, but rather a person with a definite artistic background.

Olena Polovna-Vasilieva, artist, M.F.A., Associate Professor at Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine

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