Bandits Bandana - "NUESTRO NOPAL DIVINX”

For her design, artist Paloma Diaz chose to highlight the Nopal, a species of cactus that is deeply significant in Mexican culture and cuisine. The title of Paloma's design translates to "Our Divine Nopal," and indeed this edible cactus species also known as "Opuntia" or "Prickly Pear" is one of the fundamental symbols of Mexico dating back to the time of the ancient Aztecs. The Aztecs considered it a sacred "planta de vida" (life-giving plant) for it's health benefits, drought-tolerance, and the fact that it's fallen leaves can form new plants. It was adopted as a symbol of the life-rebirth cycle found in many ancient Mexican myths, and are central to Mexican folklore and art today. Nopales remain a modern day staple, found in everything from health and beauty products to biofuel. Growing up in Dallas as a child of immigrant parents, Paloma explained that she was often not proud of her culture, and would shy away from her Mexican heritage in an attempt to assimilate or "Americanize."

Seeing her parents struggle with the language barrier and dealing with the daily micro-aggressions from peers made her feel embarrassed by and disconnected from the ancestral history of family. It wasn't, she told us, until she left for art school in San Francisco, that she was exposed to a diversity far beyond what she had ever experienced in Texas. As she saw the world from different perspectives and learned more about America's complicated history, it led her to dive deeper into an appreciation for her own Mexican and Latin American lineage, the exploration of which shapes much of her work to this day. Paloma's bandana design uses the Nopal as a central connection to her ancestral heritage, paying homage to her family, the natural landscape, and the ancient beauty of the Mexican culture through images and words printed in each corner forming the sentence "Venimos De, De America Latina, De Gente Bonita, Hasta La Raiz" or "We come from, from Latin America, from beautiful people, to the roots."

Size:     21" x 21"