PACIFICA TRIBUNE

January 3, 2001

PEOPLE

MEXICA MOVEMENT INSPIRES SAN JOSE PHOTOGRAPHER

Wes Billingslea's Portraits Highlight Proud Native People

By Chris Hunter
Editor and Publisher

There's a lot of discussion in the United States of America about the plight of the Native American. Most people know that Europeans who came to North America didn't really encounter an empty land ripe for the picking. Even Gaspar de Portola can't be credited with "discovering" the San Francisco Bay; the Ohlones and other Native American tribes had been living alongside it for generations.

But what's equally fascinating to a growing number of people in Central America is the analogous story of the indigenous natives who were shoved off the stage to make way for Spain in much the same way that Native Americans were overpowered by England.

The "Mexica" culture (pronounced "mesheeka") has its own language, religion, spirituality, art, dance and pride. Unfortunately, it has become subsumed by the Spanish language and dominant culture of Mexico as it exists today.

San Jose photographer Wes Billingslea has been documenting the people and culture of the Mexica movement, hoping to pass along some of the uniqueness inherent in it to North American viewers.

An exhibition of his work will be part of a new photographic show at the Sanchez Art Center from Jan. 5 too Feb. 18 Called simply "Black and White," the photographic display features the work of Billingslea along with unrelated photos by Scott R. Brewer, Dean Drumheller and Linda Ferrera, each of whom has his or her own subject matter. A reception for the artists is planned for Friday, Jan. 12, from 7-9, in conjunction with a reception for the opening of the Main Gallery show, "Illusions," which features recent work by Connie Begg and Catherine Merrill.

"The photographs are intended to tell a story about the people," says Billingslea of his project. "Ninety-nine percent of the history books of Mexico were written by the conquerors."

The Mexica movement is an active (sometimes activist), effort to awaken people to the ancient knowledge and culture of the Aztecs and other Central American peoples known today through their archaeological sites, but not their personalities. For some in the Mexica movement, reconnecting with ancestral ties is a life-affirming effort. Billingslea's entrÚe into the world of the Mexica culture has been a San Jose resident who calls himself Huitzilin, an Aztec name meaning "hummingbird."

"I've lived in California since 1971," says Huitzilin, a professional kick boxing coach. "But I am a Mexica, so I want to have a Mexica name. First, I have the genetic information. Then I started wondering and asking questions. The answers came like music to my ears."

In 1992, Huitzilin visited Mexico City on a "spiritual walk" and experienced a personal vision. "I see myself walking up the pyramids and saw an eagle. I had another vision in Teotihuacan and became an important person in the movement."

He has renounced the notion that he is Hispanic or Latino in favor of thinking of himself as part of a proud Mexica heritage. It is that proud culture that made Billingslea want to capture on film the contemporary descendants of that heritage.

"At one point, Teotihuacan had a larger population than the city of London," says Billingslea.

Another contact for Billingslea has been Metztli, a civil engineer in Mexico City who is considered a spiritual leader for many in the Mexica movement. Metztli visited Pacifica in November with Billingslea and Huitzilin. A teacher and Aztec dancer, Metztli is also a "medicine man" of sorts, practicing a form of chiropractic and spiritual healing. Billingslea's friendship with both these men has given him access to people and families in Mexico who are maintaining the old knowledge and, in some way, self respect.

Metztli is particularly proud of the magnificent levels of science and architecture perfected by ancient Aztecs. "There are still a lot of original books," he says. "We know them. People in the mountains have them. In one of the pages is a big snake with feathers holding a man in his mouth. It is Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent. The man is being devoured by knowledge. We are the warriors of knowledge." (It's hard to bring up the habit of human sacrifice that the Aztecs were known for, since that's one of the cultural rites the Mexica movement isn't quite so eager to remember.) Keeping the spirit of the ancient peoples and their knowledge alive, while rekindling a personal pride in ancestry, are elements of the Mexica movement. (A militant branch does exist, as evidenced in a Mexica website, which hopes for the overthrow of the contemporary Mexican culture. This could be viewed as akin to the militant wing of the American Indian Movement that would like to reclaim Manhattan and the rest of North America.) Wes Billingslea's photos of children and adults who view themselves as part of something much older than the complex reality of Mexico today are an excellent primer for understanding the spirit of the Mexica movement.