Apache shows Jocelyn the ropes as she trains for Mexico's lucha libre. © Annick Donkers, 2012

Mexico’s lucha libre: Dreams of professional wrestling

It’s surely one of the coolest jobs in the world — donning a glittery mask and playing superhero or villain every night, flying around a packed arena. These are the men and women who aim to make their living as luchadores — athletes-cum-performers in the unique and very Mexican sport (or whatever you want to call it) […]

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© Georg Rauch

Georg Rauch: A Clear View All The Way To The Horizon

Some years ago, during a lovely spring afternoon at his Mexican home overlooking Lake Chapala, artist Georg Rauch needed something to take to a monthly gathering of artists and writers in Ajijic. While fighting for the Third Reich on the Eastern Front, he had written letters to his mother – in all some eighty-four letters […]

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Lavish hand embroidery covers a traditional Mexican wedding dress by Oaxaca artisan Faustina Sumano Garcia. © Arden Aibel Rothstein and Anya Leah Rothstein, 2007

Mexican Folk Art from Oaxacan Artist Families by Arden Aibel and Anya Leah Rothstein

Aficionados of folk art of the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico are already familiar with Arden Aibel Rothstein and Anya Leah Rothstein’s Mexican Folk Art From Oaxacan Artist Families. It was surprising to learn, however, that some people with an interest in the crafts of Oaxaca’s central valleys, are not even aware of this seminal work […]

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Original art by Fiona Dunnett who makes her home in Oaxaca. © Fiona Dunnett, Alvin Starkman, 2009

Fiona Dunnett: images of self and death in Oaxaca

Comic strips, a young Canadian’s self portraits, and photographs of violent deaths in a Mexican daily newspaper, make strange bedfellows. But they constitute a major part of the driving force for the creative energies of artist Fiona Dunnett, a resident of Oaxaca, Mexico. Ottawa-born Dunnett has been living in Oaxaca since 2005. As in the […]

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The women of San Marcos Tlapazola, Oaxaca, shape their clay pottery by hand. © Alvin Starkman, 2010

Women potters of San Marcos Tlapazola, Oaxaca

Every Sunday Gloria awakens at 3:00 a.m., and begins preparing tejate, a frothy, tasty corn and cacao based drink, which she will offer for sale in the Tlacolula market. A couple of hours later, her sister-in-law Maria and Maria’s daughter Luci follow suit, but in preparation for their own day of vending pre-Hispanic-style figures and masks, comales, and an […]

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Megan Glore is coordinator of promotion and fundraising for CORAL, a charity in Oaxaca, Mexico to assist the deaf and hearing impaired. © Alvin Starkman, 2010

CORAL: Non-profit center in Oaxaca assists hearing impaired Mexican children

When the Cole-Gardner family recently vacationed in Oaxaca, Mexico, they brought along several basketballs, soccer balls and baseball gloves, to donate to indigenous children without ready access to such sports paraphernalia. They’d read this writer’s article about the opportunity to help Oaxacans in need by filling an empty suitcase — earmarked for packing Oaxaca handicrafts […]

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