Mexican Murals - Ancient Symbology in Mexico City Center [CCC's Street Art Contest #183]

The center district of Mexico City is not necessarily known for its appealing looks. Sure, historical buildings from colonial time are abound, but in between them most of the buildings are structures from the mid-20th century, built mostly to be functional and cost efficient... which nowadays translates to generally shabby and unseemly. In other words, a perfect opportunity to use their surfaces as a canvas for cool street art!

An Eye Catching Eye

This particular house is located on Articulo 123 street, between Iturbide and Bucareli, only a block from the famous grand promenade Paseo de la Reforma, with the latest glass facades of modern financial hubs. As you can see, the building itself is far from impressive (with the exception of the top floor maybe): some business location on the ground level, and presumably low-standard apartments above it. The art on the other hand, with its large eye in its center, is something that can impossibly be ignored.

Nahui Ollin

For those of us who are not familiar with ancient Mexican symbolism, the design of this mural may not look like anything more than merely shapes and colors arranged in an interesting way. Folks who have been to Mexico, though, may recognize something familiar. This pattern of circles, squares, and triangles arranged in a circular fashion tends to appear in numerous places. One great example is the famous Sun-Stone, as well as the coins of the Mexican Peso, particularly the ten peso piece, which are based on that design.

It would take a post of its own to get into what the meaning of this symbol, referred to as Nahui Ollin, which can be translated as four winds, or more accurately four movements, having to do with the four previous worlds that have been destroyed before the creation of our current one.

At the bottom of the painting there is a prominent signature of the artist who created this piece: Antonio Triana a.k.a cixmugre, is a local muralist, who is gaining fame in Europe.

To see more great murals from Mexico, please visit my collection of posts titled Mexican Murals. To see many more amazing murals from around the world, posted by a growing number of Hivers, visit the weekly CCC's Street Art Contest, to which this post is my entry this week.