Tzompantli: Sacrifice of Many Victims

The principle of a Tzompantli in pre-Hispanic Mexico was to display the heads of sacrificed human victims. In Mesoamerican belief, ritual sacrifice was necessary to sustain the gods, ensure the sun rose, and maintain the balance of the universe. The skulls were viewed as sacred offerings and "seeds" of life. Sometimes this structure was made of stone with carved human skulls, but in the Grand Tenochtitlan, the display of real human skulls was extremely important. Death was not viewed as a grim end, but as a divine, necessary transition to the spiritual realm. A Tzompantli was a statement to the Gods that the cycle of death and life was honored.

In a contemporary context, Tzompantli: Sacrifice of Many Victims is a remembrance of all the victims of Female Femicide. This is an offering to human indifference and insensitivity. Each individual wood panel’s faceless skull represents all women killed with extreme impunity in our modern-day society. Their gender made them part of the contemporary human sacrifice currently happening in Mexico and other parts of Latin America. The pink color “Rosa Mexicano” used as the background is the staple of the martyrs of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, and has been adopted as the representative color for the Mexican nation and its identity. This color in my installation, in conjunction with the realistic rendering of the skulls, represents the cruel and apathetic identity of a country towards its women and the impunity of male dominance that persists in all aspects of our society.

© 2023 Belinda Flores-Shinshillas