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Local artists participate in Mexican street art festival
BOARDMAN
For three days in November, 80 artists from around the world descended upon Akumal, Mexico, and left the tiny Yucatan town much more colorful than they found it.
At the first Akumal Arts Festival, which took place Nov. 9-11, artists transformed the town’s blank walls into masterful murals.
Among the participating artists was Suzanne Gray, arts and humanities coordinator at the YMCA of Youngstown, who has vacationed in the area for years.
In addition to mural painting, the festival included art workshops for children, live music, traditional Mayan ceremonies and even a sweat lodge.
“It was just so inclusive,” Gray said.
Gray and her sister Alice Rzonsa of Boardman painted “Mothers and Daughters,” on the side of a set of bleachers in the town. Their mural was an adaptation of a painting Gray had done previously.
The painting uses Mayan symbolism to depict three generations of women in Gray’s family.
“It was really a story about when my mom and sister and I used to go to Mexico. ... It’s all about the connectedness of mothers and daughters,” Gray said.
But not all artists came prepared with a piece.
For instance, street artists Seca-One and Pawski used their mural to depict local shaman Juan Indio.
Gray hopes the festival will show tourists there is more to Mexico than posh resorts.
“Not everything is on this beautiful coast with all those highfalutin resorts. This is the real Mexico,” Gray said of Akumal.
Visitors are often reluctant to venture outside of popular destinations such as Cancun, Gray said.
“I know a lot of people go and they sit on a beach and they stay at a resort and they say, ‘How can you go out into any place? It’s dangerous’” she said.
To which Gray says, “I can go to downtown Youngstown, and it’s dangerous. Any place can be dangerous.”
The festival isn’t the YMCA’s first connection to Akumal.
“Every two years, we have been sending a piece of art to Akumal to the library, and the kids at the library make something and send it back to us,” Gray said.
The exchange is facilitated through the organization Global Art Project for Peace, founded in 1993 by artist Katherine Josten.
“I call Akumal our sister organization to the Y, because we’ve been involved with them for so many years,” Gray said.
For Suzanne, the connection between Youngstown and Akumal is proof of art’s universality.
“We have gotten to know people, and I think when you make personal connections, it really does make the world smaller,” Gray added.