They call to protect the hummingbird at the BBVA Image 23 Summit. Sustainability

The hummingbird, native to America, occupies a privileged place in pre-Hispanic cosmogony: it was the one that led the Mexica to Aztlán, it is considered the nahual of war and, for the Mayans, it served as a kind of messenger between the gods and the humans. It is the only pollinating bird and is in danger of extinction.

This motivated Mexican creators Christian Chávez, Aidé Domínguez and Uryan Lozano, whose practice is situated at the intersection of art, design and nature, to give life to walkable sculpture Huitzilcalli (House of the Hummingbird).

Built with wood, ceramics and thread, measuring one and a half meters high, 60 centimeters wide and weighing 22 kilograms, this piece will be exhibited within the framework of the Imagen23 BBVA Summit. Sustainability that will take place on October 11 at the facilities of Image Group.

“Hummingbird House seeks to make a fusion between human creativity, nature and sustainability. It is a project that also allows us to raise awareness, raise awareness and reflect on the importance of sustainability in the disciplines of arts and designs,” explains doctor in Arts and Design Christian Chávez in an interview.

He states that the work “is a call to action and an invitation to artists and designers, with the idea of ​​conserving and preserving some endangered species, such as hummingbirds.”

For the artist Uryan Lozano, master in visual arts from UNAM, “the importance of Hummingbird House "It lies in the fact that we make an allusion to seven species of Mexican hummingbirds in danger of extinction and that they are part of 30 endangered species worldwide."

Lozano adds, also in an interview with Image Groupwho are interested in Huitzilcalli “be a habitable sculpture for all these birds, these seven, and that in some way allows art, science and sustainability to be combined.”

Aidé Domínguez, for his part, details that the sculpture is made up “of small pieces of different colors that we are going to discover in this tree simulation. We want it to be able to serve as a refuge for these hummingbirds or some species.”

The graduate in Visual Arts and teacher at the Faculty of Arts and Design of the highest university comments that, in addition, they recovered materials, mainly logs. “We grouped these in the sense that it was a tree and we generated, from ceramic pieces, those small nests that we want to be shelters and also be a kind of little house.”

Christian Chávez highlights that active experimentation worked in the co-creation process of the three authors. “It was really enriching to be able to connect each of our knowledge, our experiences; and, furthermore, we were trying different alternatives for the work with each material.”

What does the hummingbird represent for Mexican society today? Uryan Lozano asks. And she responds: “I think we have a responsibility to make it visible and take care of these spaces, so that they continue to coexist with us.”