The 81-square-meter (882-square-foot) bead mosaic that members of the indigenous Wixarika community in San Sebastián Teponahuaxtlán, Jalisco, created in an attempt to earn a spot in the Guinness Book of Records for the world’s largest mural – has done just that.
The Wixaritari, known in Spanish as Huichol, are an indigenous group from western Mexico, mainly from the states of Jalisco and Nayarit, famous for their colorful crafts.
The mosaic was built by Wixaritari artist Maurilio Rentería Guzmán and a team of 15 dedicated artisans, who painstakingly created the mural by hand-glueing small plastic beads, known as chaquiras, to 32 wooden boards, which were later joined together to create a single piece.
The resulting mosaic, which took just over two and-a-half months to assemble, depicts a woman wearing a typical dress from Jalisco and a man dressed as a Charro, a suit that is popular with mariachi musicians, surrounded by flowers and multicolored shapes.
The mosaic was presented during the 25th International Mariachi and Charro Festivalcurrently being held in Guadalajara, where Guinness World Records personnel verified that no gaps were left between the 32 panels that make up the mural. This was crucial to consider the end product a single piece, according to the official adjudicator of the Guinness organization in Latin America, Carlos Tapia.
“The goal was to surpass a 71.33-square-meter mosaic created in New Orleans, but that was not made out of chaquiras, this is a new category… But this mosaic [made by the Wixaritari] is currently the world’s largest” he told the news agency EFE.
With this achievement, Jalisco now has 31 Guinness World records, bringing Mexico’s total number of records to 204, more than any other Spanish-speaking country.
“The Mexican people have great strength… when they set out to do something, they accomplish it. They come together and always want to share this kind of handicraft with the world,” Tapia said.
Xavier Orendáin, President of the Guadalajara Chamber of Commerce and organizer of the International Mariachi Festival, said that, weather permitting, the Wixáritari mosaic will be on exhibit at Guadalajara’s Plaza Liberación through September 2.
Once the festival has ended, the record-breaking mural will be auctioned off with the intention of raising funds for the construction of an elementary school in the indigenous community of Mezquitic, in the mountains of Jalisco.
Source: Banderas News