Title: A handmade present: Weaving opportunities at the Museo Textil de Oaxaca
Event Date: Friday, May 16, 2025 at 11 a.m. (PT)
Presenter: Hector Manuel Meneses Lozano
Abstract:
The Museo Textil de Oaxaca (MTO) is a space that houses memories, success stories and challenges. An initiative encouraged and supported by the Alfredo Harp Helú Oaxaca Foundation since 2007, the MTO is committed to research, conservation and exhibition of the textile collections it safeguards. With the same level of commitment, the Museum encourages an open dialogue with the communities that have given rise to the textiles in these collections. The social force of the MTO springs forth from empathy and it has grown by weaving together an intimate network with weavers, embroiderers, dyers, spinners and producers of raw materials, such as fibres and dyestuffs. Modern industry has made us seek disposable clothing and mass consumption, but in response, the Museo Textil de Oaxaca is focused on appreciating and promoting the manual and intellectual effort involved in handmade textiles. This conversation will showcase a series of cases in which the MTO has been able to link its collections with contemporary creative communities, not only to better understand our past, but also to reimagine our present and reformulate our future.
Hector Manuel Meneses Lozano graduated from the Escuela Nacional de Conservación, Restauración y Museografía “Manuel del Castillo Negrete” in Mexico City, his hometown. After studying a textile fragment from the late 17 th century, he was invited to join the team of the soon-to-be Museo Textil de Oaxaca. Starting in 2008, he worked as Conservator and Collections Manager and since 2012, he has been Director of the Museum. His interests cover the design of exhibitions, the creation of textiles, intangible and material heritage, as well as the involvement of spinners, weavers, embroiderers, and dyers with institutions -such as museums- at a local, national, and international level.
For questions regarding the talk
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As a land grant institution, the faculty and administration at UCLA acknowledge the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples as the traditional land caretakers of Tovaangar (Los Angeles basin, South Channel Islands).
For more information about the The UCLA/Getty Interdepartmental Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage, visit conservation.ucla.edu.
