As a photographer, I take portraits, landscapes and works on community-based projects across cultures. I visited Cuetzalan, Puebla one of Mexico’s 52 Pueblos Magicos nestled in the High Sierras to photograph women weavers and the Feria de Huipil.  I was inspired by the work of Mexican dancers in New York and wanted see the same traditions at their site of origin. I visited the homes of women weavers who shared moments of their daily lives in this tropical region, known for rituals, textiles and coffee.  Now is the time to share these painterly, transformative images for a wider audience and show how traditions are kept alive in a modern world, the importance of fair trade, microbusiness, access to land, and the dignity of the human spirit.

I met Maria Esperanza, a member of the Maseualsiauamaej Mosenyolchikauni, from the indigenous language, Nahuatl for women working together, who invited me into her home, showed her waist loom, and offered the sweetest maracuya fruit from her garden. Her generosity and talent are a reminder of the community ties that bind us together. As artisans Maria and her cohorts weave and embroider textiles to sell in two local markets. The Maseual send their daughters to compete for the Queen of the Huipil in October to honor the goddess of flowers. Named for the Quexqueme woven headdress worn atop their head and embroidered dress, the Feria de Huipil celebrates ancestral and spiritual customs, and women’s creativity in rural regions.