Nierika (Guadalajara)

Guadalajara, Mexico. With a few hours of free time, I took an Uber to see Nierika, a 2017 Street Art project by Boa Mistura. I was curious because I had seen an astonishing aerial photo of it. It's a super graphic filling the central courtyard of a housing project, in honor of the Wixaritari (Huichol) people who come from the Sierra Madre region of Mexico. The Nierika is a type of mandala used to bring order to daily life. 

One side represents the peyote cactus with it's pink flower, and its psychotropic powers, the ability "to see".

Typography fills the other three sides, defined by negative space. The word FUI (I was) represents the richness of their culture's past.

The word SOY (I am) represents the strength to keep their culture alive in the present.

The word SERE (I will be) represents the knowledge to keep their identity in the future.

Narrow walkways pass through brilliantly painted apartment blocks.

Painted on the central pavement is the Tsi + kri, a Nierika of creation and a source of protection. This is the powerful image visible from an airplane. The year old painting was not pristine but the space had a real energetic feeling. The typography seemed to be in fractured motion on the undulating facade of the buildings. The effect of the space is a kaleidoscope in a box of time.