Totem Latamat at The Hidden Gardens

In Chumatlán, Veracruz, México a 4.5m high totem is carved from a single tree during a ceremony to thank it for giving its life. The head of a man and the wings of an eagle are sculpted into the cedar wood, the chiselled lines imprinting a message that will stretch 9000km from Mexico to the UK.

Commissioned by ORIGINS Festival and carved by Indigenous Totonac artist Jun Tiburcio, TOTEM LATAMAT is a messenger sent by the Totonac people. “Latamat” means “life” in Tutunakú, and the totem is expressive of Totonac spiritual ideas as they relate to the environment. It emphasises how deeply our existence is interwoven with nature, calls attention to the damage being done to the seas, the land and the air, and insists that we cannot ignore this destruction any longer.

TOTEM LATAMAT has travelled to the UK by ship and has journeyed up the country visiting important cultural hubs across the UK including London, Coventry, Milton Keynes and Manchester drawing powerful links between Indigenous experience and local heritage. The totem will spend the duration of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) at the Indigenous Elders’ COP26 camp around the Sacred Fire in Glasgow’s The Hidden Gardens.

While in Glasgow for COP26 there will be an opportunity to join two events:

– Indigenous Elders Inaugural Ceremony and Lighting of the Sacred Flame for the Climate Emergency – Wednesday November 3rd 2-5pm

– OU Scotland discussion event with Indigenous delegates and Friends of the Earth – Thursday November 11th 2pm

TOTEM LATAMAT is commissioned by Border Crossings’ ORIGINS Festival, co-presented by Centro de las Artes Indígenas with the support of The Open University and the Embassy of Mexico.