LACMA marks the 500th anniversary of the fall of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan (modern-day Mexico City) with Mixpantli: Space, Time, and the Indigenous Origins of Mexico. This exhibition subverts the traditional narrative of conquest by centering the creative resilience of Indigenous artists, mapmakers, and storytellers who forged new futures and made their world anew through artistic practice. Nahua scribes gave the name mixpantli, or “banner of clouds,” to the first omen of the conquest, depicting this omen as both a Mexica battle standard and a Euro-Christian column enveloped in clouds. Mixpantli, then, reflects the bringing together of both Nahua and Christian worldviews, and the efforts of Indigenous peoples to reorient space and time in a new world and era. This show puts early colonial art in conversation with pre-Columbian artifacts to showcase the deeply Indigenous worldviews that shaped early Mexico. 

A companion exhibition to Mixpantli: Contemporary Echoes.

Installation view of Mixpantli: Space, Time, and the Indigenous Origins of Mexico, December 12, 2021–May 1, 2022, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Facsimiles from the collection of the Archivo General de la Nación by Tlaoli Ramírez Téllez, commissioned by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, photo (c) Museum Associates/LACMA