Celebrating 482 years of its founding, the city of Mérida received a new sculptural gift with the work “Espiga” by the artist Melva Medina, which will be part of the art collection on display in the Patio of the Olimpo Cultural Center.
At the unveiling ceremony of the work, Mayor Alejandro Ruz Castro, accompanied by his wife and president of the Municipal DIF, Verónica Cetina Ancona, explained that Mérida is a city whose past generations have been forging what we are, generations that have known how to preserve the values of our ancestors and that from today onwards, we preserve in other ears for future generations.
“This gift that teacher Melva Medina gives to the city represents the deep respect that we seek for women, whom we recognize in all their dimensions and abilities,” he stated.
He indicated that there are many ways to demonstrate the affection one feels for Mérida, a harmonious and peaceful city, with opportunities for everyone and where social effort and the common good prevail as values that identify us as Meridans and Yucatecans. He thanked the artist for her generosity and extended the invitation to continue celebrating the city where we live, an innovative and sensitive Mérida that takes care of its artists so that they can continue to exercise their freedoms with inspiration and creativity.
Melva Medina was born in Michoacán and never imagined that she would live in Yucatán. It was her studies in the Mayan culture that gave her a reason for inspiration, she shared at the unveiling ceremony of her sculpture.
Regarding the work, in which he respectfully takes up the Mayan aesthetics, he represents a woman in a very synthetic way, with a headdress of braids that go to the floor forming a spike, which is a symbol of the contact that exists between women. of Yucatán with the earth and the cosmos.
She explained that there are many healing, spiritual women who work in a small corner of their house, with deep and enriching work for the culture of Yucatan, for which she has great admiration.
The sculpture also has a hole in the middle of it, which represents a container of light, of energy, which symbolizes femininity, the woman, and the seed that is inside as the possibility of generating life and creating forward cycles. Melva Medina, who has lived in Yucatán for two decades, directs with Abel Vázquez, an Oaxacan artist, Nahualli Casa de los Artistas.
The Director of Culture Irving Berlin Villafaña, recalled that the City Council of Mérida has an important collection of plastic arts in general and since past editions, the tradition was created that every January 6, on the day that Mérida’s birthday is celebrated , some prominent artist delivers part of their work to the city for the enjoyment of the community.
He thanked Melva for her generosity in donating the piece, with which Mérida incorporates the soul and sensitivity of its artists.
Melva Medina’s work will join the works of Jesús Peraza, Gerda Gruber, Rosario Guillermo, Juan Pablo Mier y Terán and Manuel May Tilán, which are permanently exhibited in the Central Courtyard of Olimpo.
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