Hello Hubskinites!

I'm so so so excited to share with you my first marble sculpture titled "Maya Mycelial."

I started this piece about a year ago and it took me ~200 hours to complete. This is only my second stone sculpture, and first time working with marble. This block came from the quarries in Carrara Italy, purchased from a stone importer outside of Kansas City. For my first marble sculpture I only wanted to use hand tools to form a deep connection with the stone but I'll certainly be using power tools for the next.

This piece speaks to the fact that many indigenous cultures have had long-lasting relationships with psychedelics. The Maya, as well as many indigenous groups of the Americas, were very familiar with psilocybin aka magic mushrooms. I've mentioned it in previous posts, and I'll mention again here, that my father is Mayan and speaks the Yucatec dialect fluently. Recent studies [1] have confirmed that psilocybin increases neuroplasticity in the brain which is “the ability of the nervous system to change its activity in response to intrinsic or extrinsic stimuli by reorganizing its structure, functions, or connections.” Perhaps rituals with these substances contributed to the Maya being so advanced in their written language, culture, architecture, etc.

One of the greatest tragedies of history is the decimation of thousands of Mayan books (codices) by the Spanish in the 16th century, of which only four remain today. Carrara marble is a medium revered by Europeans for centuries. The Mayan figure emerging from this block acts as a subtle reminder of what could have been if the Spanish had left the Mayan culture intact.

This piece is currently on display at Union Station, Kansas City's train station that also has restaurants, theaters, children exploratory installations, etc. Union Station is currently hosting an exhibit of Mayan artifacts that are outside of Guatemala for the first time ever (the exhibit goes to LA next). I'm exceptionally honored to have my work continue in the artistic tradition of my ancestors.

Check out this IG post for more images and videos from the creation process.

I am looking to sell this and sent out emails to curators at five local art museums. Though, if you yourself are interested in owning this marble boi, lemme know!

[1] "Psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression: fMRI-measured brain mechanisms" by Carhart-Harris et al. (2016) & "Psilocybin-induced neuroplasticity in the default mode network" by Petri et al. (2018)