Yucatán is back on the international artistic map thanks to María Eugenia Farjat Aranda, better known as Maru Farjat, a young Yucatecan art and design student at the University of the Arts London, Central Saint Martins.

Surrounded by historical paintings, she decided to sit on the floor, wear an elegant terno (traditional dress), and bring traditional Yucatecan embroidery to one of London's most important galleries: the National Gallery. Maru was selected, along with a small group of students, to participate in an exclusive exhibition called "Belonging," through which she was permitted to intervene in the historic halls of the British museum.

Her proposal fused traditional Yucatecan embroidery with 18th-century European art, taking as a reference the portrait of Madame de Pompadour by François-Hubert Drouais, a work associated with the luxury and aristocracy of that era.

As part of this intervention, the artist transformed the room into a living workshop by embroidering on a carpet, giving new meaning to this practice from a perspective of identity, resistance, and cultural pride. She stood out by placing the inherited knowledge of Yucatecan embroiderers in a place that houses works by artists such as Velázquez, Rembrandt, and Van Gogh.

For her performance, Farjat took the time to learn the characteristic Yucatecan cross-stitch embroidery. Through social media, she expressed what this event meant to her:

"It was very special for me to be able to represent and shed light on the mestizas who work so hard day after day, and a special pride in this museum that I admire so much."

With this, she not only solidifies her international reach but also demonstrates that Yucatecan textile art has relevance within the conversation about global contemporary art, showing that local cultural heritage continues to find new ways to transcend borders.

Sources:

Sol Yucatán

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