Man's sash (Faja) 1930 - 1940

This faja, or sash, was woven by a Maya artist—a long band of red, finished with zig-zagging geometric end panels and a fringe. Imagine the artist at work on the backstrap loom, slowly building up the image one thread at a time, pulling one color through another. How long would it take to make this kind of object? What's so special about it? I think about the way the colors vibrate slightly as you look at them—the material, the texture, the fact that it's not just a flat surface, but something tactile. The deep red color, the meticulous patterns at each end, the long fringe that seems to dance with every movement. It's like looking at a painting, but instead of pigment on canvas, it’s thread on a loom. It's kind of cool how artists across different cultures and times are always in dialogue with each other through their work, riffing off each other's ideas and techniques.