INOCENTE MELCHOR GARCIA
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Inocente Melchor Garcia lives in the village of San Martin Tilcajete, about a
forty minute bus ride from the city of Oaxaca. He carves and lives with his
wife and young son in the house of his father in law, for the time being. It’s
best to have your "taller", (workshop), close to the entrance of the village.
That way it’s more likely that the few tourists that come to the village to
buy carvings will find him, it’s better for business.
Inocente lets the wood of the copal tree speak to him. A long graceful
branch will become a giraffe. He’ll capture the rhythm of his muertos
playing instruments, their heads thrown back, with the crook of the wood.
He is a quiet, soft spoken man. He gives credit to his wife, Reina, for the
artistry of her painting. The carvings come to life with her brightly colored
motifs and fine detail.
Inocente’s carvings have an elegance, and a movement to them. He carves a
collection that he calls "Fantasticos". In the Zapotec culture they are also
known as "Nahuals", villagers that can turn themselves into animals under
a full moon. The Nahuals maintain some recognizable feature of their
human body, sometimes a face, sometimes only a set of hands, and
sometimes the whole upper torso. Inocente carves his Nahuals as
musicians. A very beautiful Spanish woman playing a violin, that is half
giraffe; a cat playing the accordion under the full moon, with only the
hands of her former human self.
There is always the fear that the bottom will fall out of the carving boom.
With Inocente’s imagination, that seems to go without boundary, his
attention to detail, and his eye for quality, his carvings have been in high
demand. That’s a good thing for the Melchor family, they are expecting
their second child in December! Inocente has established himself securely
in the folk art world, soon he will move his family to their house in the
North East corner of the village.
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