The members of the Adzul Marino printmaking workshop gather to create artwork centered around the theme of cultural identity. The workshop opened its doors to the public in November 2021, offering classes in printmaking, drawing, and painting in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo.
Adzul Marino, a visual artist, mentioned that he attempted to start the workshop years earlier in Cancún and the State of Mexico. Since then, he aimed to inspire the general public to create their own visual art, especially in Quintana Roo where the population is highly diverse, and a sense of identity is perceived to be lacking.
Playa del Carmen is made up of various visual identities that seem to compete with one another. Restaurants, tourist businesses, musical groups, brochures, and overall trendy graphic designs follow influences from the Xcaret park style or offer a tropicalized foreign version. The local vegetation and fauna are the dominant elements in this visual diversity.
In the face of this identity struggle, the workshop aims to develop its themes, formalize them for exhibition, and strengthen themselves as artists. This has given rise to themes like Mexican wrestling, Tzompantli, -a term originating from the Nahuatl language. It refers to an altar constructed by certain pre-Columbian cultures of ancient Mexico- Mexican history, and other subjects of interest to the participants like Tarot or traditional Juego de Lotería.
Prints from the exhibition “Graphic vs. Cabellera” or “Graphic Tzompantli” have traveled to Playa del Carmen, Cancún, Tulum, and Guadalajara. They will be showcased at the “Graphic Diversities” exhibition scheduled for 7:30pm on October 20, 2023, at El Zapote Gallery.
