Ja weya ob’aj wij, ex weya nchemaj / Mi Historia, Mi Telar / My Story, My Weaving

A visual art and performance project created by members of the Indigenous Maya Mam immigrant community of East Oakland in collaboration with NAKA Dance Theater and EastSide Arts Alliance. Our project integrates personal and collective narratives, movement and textile art inspired by the weaving traditions practiced by women from Xjan Xwan Atitan, Chimb'al and Torasant, Huehuetenango, Guatemala.

We highlight the struggles we face as Indigenous women living in a world that devalues our work and tries to erase our voices. We claim the space, raise our voices, and share our wisdom and vision, speaking in our own Maya Mam language.

We welcome you to take in what we are sharing, no matter what language you speak.

We have made a deliberate decision to present the work in the Mam language, a rich, Indigenous language with many dialects. Even if you do not understand Maya Mam, we hope you will enjoy allowing the sound of our mother tongue wash over you.

Since 2022, we have been working with a cohort of women weavers originally from the following municipalities in Huehuetenango Guatemala: Xjan Xwan (San Juan Atitan), Chimb'al (Santiago Chimaltenango) and Torasant (Todos Santos).

2026 Exhibition at Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore, April 1 - May 10, 2026.
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 11, 2-6 pm
Closing Reception: Saturday, May 9, 2-6 pm

2025 Performances at East Side Arts Alliance Cultural Center, August 2 - 24, 2025.
Artist Reception and Guatemala tamales followed the Saturday, August 16 performance.

Photos of 2025 Performance and Grupo Artista Telar Maya Mam in the park by Scott Tsuchitani

Ja weya ob’aj wij, ex weya nchemaj / Mi Historia, Mi Telar / My Story, My Weaving was funded, in part, by East Bay Community Foundation, the California Arts Council, CE Artist & Creative Grant, The Center for Cultural Power, Akonadi Foundation, San Francisco Arts Comission, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, Fleishhacker Foundation, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, and Zellerbach Family Foundation.

NAKA Dance Theater is a fiscally sponsored project of Dancers’ Group. Many thanks to EastSide Arts Alliance for their support of this project, and to Mujeres Unidas y Activas, who helped plant its seeds. We are grateful to past funding support by City of Oakland Neighborhood Voices Grant, the Women’s Catalytic Fund at the East Bay Community Foundation, a grant from the Alliance for California Traditional Arts, in partnership with the Walter & Elise Haas Fund, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Latino Community Foundation PoderArte Grant.