November, 2019
MEXICO CITY
Diario
The Piñata
The piñata is one of the most traditional elements in Mexican celebrations, especially during birthdays and posadas (community celebrations that take place on each of the nine nights leading up to Christmas, from December 16 to 24th). This colorful object is made of papier-mache or has a clay pot covered by paper, decorated with colorful crepe papers and filled with seasonal fruits, candies or toys that fall to the floor when the piñata is broken.
During December, the public markets from around Mexico City transform into colorful places where the market traders that usually sell fruits or other goods make piñatas for the posadas, which are the Mexican Christmas parties. Designs range from traditional characters to those based on recent figures from popular movies and cartoons.
However, there are some markets where people can find piñatas during the whole year, such as Jamaica, that has a corridor dedicated to it.
The picture
In order to represent the beauty, textures and colors that this ephemeral object possesses, Diario decided to create a lasting object, capturing all the features of the piñata into a photography captured by Rodrigo Chapa, who considers that light is the key element that not only defines the essence of an object but also provides shape, texture and character to the image.
The three variations are a metaphorical representation of the piñata going from a colorful one that is considered traditional and two others, black and white, which are a monochromatic demonstration that highlights the shape and texture of the object, being the color a non existent element.
