A new exhibition opening this weekend at Oaxaca’s state folk art museum will bring together 100 handmade pieces from craftswomen across the state’s eight regions, timed to coincide with International Women’s Day.
Mujeres. Creadoras de historias [Women: Creators of Stories] opens at noon Sunday at the Museo Estatal de Arte Popular Oaxaca [State Museum of Popular Art of Oaxaca], known as the Meapo. The show spotlights the craft traditions that Oaxacan women have long carried — textiles, embroidery, black clay pottery, and basketry — and makes their work available for sale directly from the artisans.
Women Drive the Craft Economy
Carlomagno Pedro Martínez, director of the Meapo, estimates that women make up roughly 65% of the state’s artisanal workforce. Their presence is especially pronounced in textiles — weaving and embroidery in particular — as well as in ceramics and basket-making.
“The artisans maintain living ancestral techniques, passing knowledge from generation to generation. This work is a form of creating stories, keeping the memory of their communities alive in the face of modernity,” Martínez said.
Oaxaca is widely considered one of Mexico’s most important states for folk art. It is home to an estimated 20,000 working artisans, and crafts account for a significant share of the state’s economy. Women have historically been the primary keepers of those traditions, though their individual contributions have not always received formal recognition.
Who Is Showing
The exhibition features work from named master artisans representing communities throughout Oaxaca. Among them is Angélica Vásquez, a recipient of the National Prize for Sciences and Arts in 2011 — one of Mexico’s highest cultural honors. Also showing are Elida Merino, an artisan and bilingual teacher from San Pedro Amuzgos; Carolina Hernández, a Mixtec artisan from San Juan Colorado; and Elodia Martínez from San Blas Atempa.
The Meapo’s home village of San Bartolo Coyotepec is itself represented through master potters of barro negro [black clay], the polished dark pottery that has become one of Oaxaca’s most recognized craft traditions.
The show draws participants from communities across the state’s eight geographic regions, including both indigenous and Afro-Mexican communities, making it one of the more geographically inclusive exhibitions the museum has mounted.
About the Meapo
The Museo Estatal de Arte Popular Oaxaca sits on the south side of the main plaza in San Bartolo Coyotepec, about 12 kilometers south of Oaxaca city. Inaugurated in 2004, the museum is dedicated to preserving and promoting Oaxacan folk art and the artisans who produce it. Its permanent collection spans the pre-Hispanic period to the present, with particular depth in barro negro pottery. Carlomagno Pedro Martínez — himself an accomplished ceramicist who began training in his family’s workshop — has led the institution since its founding.
The timing of Mujeres. Creadoras de historias is not coincidental. March 8 is International Women’s Day, observed globally, and the exhibition specifically frames the work of Oaxacan craftswomen within a broader conversation about labor, cultural preservation, and identity.
Women’s craft traditions in Oaxaca have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, largely because of high-profile cases in which international brands have reproduced indigenous designs without crediting or compensating the communities that created them. Those disputes have accelerated federal efforts to establish legal protections for Mexico’s indigenous intellectual property. Yucatán Magazine has reported on similar cases involving Oaxacan heritage.
The Mujeres exhibition takes a different approach — not confrontation, but visibility. By presenting the work in a formal museum setting, with the artisans identified by name and community, the show pushes back against the long tradition of displaying folk art anonymously, a practice the Meapo has been actively working to end since its founding.
Pieces in the exhibition include traditional garments, embroidered textiles, and objects made using techniques that predate European contact. More information on the museum is available at UNESCO’s intangible heritage program.
Quick Facts: Mujeres. Creadoras de historias
- Opening: Sunday, March 8, at noon — International Women’s Day
- Venue: Museo Estatal de Arte Popular Oaxaca (Meapo), San Bartolo Coyotepec, Oaxaca
- Number of pieces: 100
- Regions represented: All 8 regions of Oaxaca, including indigenous and Afro-Mexican communities
- Featured artisans include: Angélica Vásquez (National Prize for Sciences and Arts, 2011), Elida Merino (San Pedro Amuzgos), Carolina Hernández (San Juan Colorado), Elodia Martínez (San Blas Atempa), and barro negro masters from San Bartolo Coyotepec
- Craft disciplines: Textiles, embroidery, weaving, ceramics, barro negro pottery, basketry
- Museum director: Carlomagno Pedro Martínez
- Meapo location: About 12 km south of Oaxaca city on the main plaza of San Bartolo Coyotepec
Source: Excélsior