showing work that addresses social issues and pro-
motes artistic activity in Oaxaca.” This fall, the museum
will host the 18th biennial exhibition of works by Rufino
Tamayo. Born in Oaxaca of Zapotec descent, Tamayo
became one of the nation’s best-known 20th-century
painters—and a leader of the Mexican Renaissance.
Eager to see more examples of local customs getting
a coat of contemporary gloss, I head to Colectivo 1050°,
a three-year-old ceramics shop led by Kythzia Barrera
and Diego Mier y Terán. Makers there collaborate on
sleek, colorful kitchenware that’s been featured at the
New York Museum of Modern Art’s design store and at
Danish chef René Redzepi’s Noma pop-up in Tulum, on
Mexico’s Caribbean coast. “Oaxaca has had clay for
4,000 years, but many communities are losing the tra-
dition because of migration, plastic, aluminum, TV,”
Mier y Terán says. “People are still placing value in
things that have a certain aesthetic regardless of the
pollution and alienation they produce. We need to re-
evaluate and rethink our priorities.” The collective’s
goal: craft beautiful objects that support both the com-
munity and the environment.
aren’t the
only people
in the region
responding to current events. At El Tendajón Agavería,
restaurateurs Andrea Sánchez López and Sabás Espi-
noza maintain a “for Oaxaca, by Oaxaca” ethic that
extends from the unpretentious mezcal they buy (deliv-
ered in bulk in plastic jugs by rural distillers) to the
dining room’s handcrafted, Cucharilla maguey lamp-
shades (upcycled church decorations made in the vil-
lage of Santo Domingo Albarradas). “I like to support
Oaxacan producers,” Sánchez López explains as I
snack on an appetizer of banana mole and creamy queso
fresco. “We used to have imported beers, but then we
decided no more U.S. beers. We decided to focus on
Oaxacan beers.”
Ten years ago, I’m not sure there were any Oaxacan
beers, but today Sánchez
López carries pours from
roughly a half-dozen area
breweries. Even the sodas
are locally produced, a de-
cision made as much out
of necessity as on princi-
ple. In 2016, when activ-
ists blocked the roads to
protest the disappearance
Clockwise from
top left: Corn tos-
tadas; José Maria
Noriega Torres
mixes chocolate at
Criollo; owner Jesús
Ortiz at Archivo
Maguey; the bar at
Casa Estambul.SUNSET ❖ OCTOBER 2018 69