XOCHIPILLI

Xochipilli-Macuilxóchitl, “Noble Florido, 5-Flor”, florid nobel or the Prince of Flowers. Fifth “god of excess”, Xochipilli is considered the patron of music, teather, dance, singing, play and pleasure. He was equally a fertility deity with strong solar associations. Considered the best piece of Chalca culture, this male figure was found on the skirts of Iztaccíhuatl volcano, outside Tlalmanalco. His body is covered with psychedelic plants: peyote, psilocybe (mushrooms), tobacco, sinicuichi, ololiuqui, sombrerete and floripondio.

The portrait is part of a project/persona called Wicha Pancha, started in 2019 by theater ensemble Compañía Cromagnon. The performer embodies the deity as an offering as a means of protest against gender-based hate crimes in Mexico. It also refers to the “the robbery of the century” when 2 veterinarian students from the National University broke into the Anthropology Museum and stole 140 archaeological pieces back in 1985.

Production: Colectivo Cromagnon

Text and performer: Jesus Giles

Traduction: Diego Saldaña

Direction & edition: Alejandro Guerrero

Camera: Michelle Menéndez

Performance direction: Pepe Romero

Make up: Crisiscostum and Maria Perkances

Nahuatl text: Diego Cristian Saldana