Abraham Mauricio Salazar (born 1957) is a Nahuatl

Nahuatl

Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...

 Indian artist

Artist

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

, living in Oaxaca

Oaxaca

Oaxaca , , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities; of which 418 are governed by the system of customs and traditions...

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. For most of his life, Salazar has been working as a farmer, painter, and teacher.
His primary medium is papel amate, a folk craft tradition that the Nahuatls have used for over two millennia.
The painting style takes its name from the medium that is used – “papel amate”, paper that is made from the bark of the ficus

Ficus

Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemiepiphyte in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The Common Fig Ficus is a genus of...

 tree.

Salazar is one of the most highly respected traditional bark painters in the State of Oaxaca

Oaxaca

Oaxaca , , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities; of which 418 are governed by the system of customs and traditions...

. In a highly distinctive style, he depicts the sights and sounds of his home village through sophisticated compositions and juxtapositions of color. Salazar along with his brother, Roberto Mauricio Salazar, have painted on papel amate since they were children. Learning the technique from their father and other family members. Though unschooled in any formal setting, Abraham Salazar has studied art and executes pastoral scenes of Mexican campesino

Peasant

A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...

 (peasant) life that are outstanding examples of the form. With his brother Roberto Mauricio Salazar, and Felix Camilo Ayala, Juan Camilo Ayala, he formed a cooperative.

While many in the tradition never became known for their works, Salazar was the
subject of a seminal (now out-of-print) book on the high-quality papel amate
paintings of the Nahuatl.

Exhibitions

• 2006 "The African Presence in México: From Yanga to the Present" National Museum of Mexican Art
• 2001 "Multiplicity: Prints from the Permanent Collection"
• 1999 "¡Provecho! A Taste of the Permanent Collection"

Illustrations

• Antonio Saldívar, Ciclo Mágico de los Días. Testimonio de Un Poblado Indigena Mexicano. (Magical Cycles of the Days. Stories of an Indigenous Mexican Town), México City: Consejo Nacional de Fomento Educativo, 1985, Drawings by Abraham Mauricio Salazar. ISBN 9682905613.
• Girón, Nicole, and Abraham Mauricio Salazar, El Barrio. Patria, Mexico, D.F. 1983