Man's sash (Faja) 1910 - 1920

This textile, a man’s sash, was woven by Maya artists, and as you can see it’s made up of long vertical stripes of colour. I can almost imagine the weaver sitting at their loom, thinking about colour and how colours speak to one another. The colours are so quiet and muted and yet bold in their simplicity—reds, pinks, blues, and yellows, like a watercolour painting that bled into something new. The stripes themselves aren't perfect. They have a wobble about them that I find really endearing, like the sash has a life of its own. It makes me think about Agnes Martin's paintings but so much older. This sash reminds us that artists have always been in conversation with each other. They push boundaries, build on what came before, and leave their own mark.