Word Crow

One of the highlights of my trip to Mexico was the workshop and gallery in an artist village outside of Oaxaca. The artist community is called Teotitlan del Valle. My friend knew how amazing this family's work was, so we made a fun trip one day to go visit them and other artists in the area.

The family undertake every step of their art by hand - from crushing the cochineal bugs that live on prickly pear cactus to get the crimson colourant out of the insects, to hand-dyeing the wool, to creating their own patterns and then weaving these patterns into gorgeous rugs.

This is Omar Chavez Santiago. He and his sister have worked alongside their parents as weavers for decades. There was a sweet photo in the gallery of Omar as a boy with his dad proudly showing one of his original works of art.