Teococuilco, Mexico – For decades, Alejandro Santiago’s hometown in southern Mexico has said goodbye to its young people as they left to seek work in the United States. Now the Oaxacan artist is trying to repopulate his town – at least metaphorically.
With a $100,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, Santiago has undertaken an ambitious plan to create an army of life-size clay figures.
So far, he has created some 1,500 statues, each about 4-foot-4-inches and 150 pounds, to represent the youths who have abandoned this hamlet in impoverished Oaxaca state. No two sculptures are alike, he said, and many of the faces have been sculpted to reflect the hardship of migrants’ lives.
Santiago said his inspiration came six years ago, when he returned home after three years in Paris and was struck by Teococuilco’s empty streets.
“I didn’t know how many to make at first, but I knew I had to repopulate the town,” he said this week.
