Ja weya ob’aj wij, ex weya nchemaj / Mi Historia, Mi Telar / My Story, My Weaving Performance, 2025 at East Side Arts Alliance Cultural Center, Oakland, CA
About Grupo Artista Telar Maya Mam
We are a group of Maya Mam women backstrap weavers and storytellers who have been gathering regularly since 2024 to practice our craft and share stories. Our members hail from three municipalities in Huehuetenango, Guatemala: Xjan Xwan (San Juan Atitan), Chimb’al (Santiago Chimaltenango) and Torasant (Todos Santos Cuchumatan). Although we are far from our homeland, we are committed to continuing to uplift our weaving traditions and evolve and create new practices in the Diaspora. We are cultivating our leadership skills. We are creative. We are resilient. We support each other in community.
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Somos un colectivo de mujeres tejedoras y narradoras Maya Mam que nos reunimos regularmente desde 2024 para practicar nuestro arte y compartir nuestras historias. Las integrantes de nuestro grupo provienen de tres municipios de Huehuetenango, Guatemala: Xjan Xwan (San Juan Atitán), Chimb’al (Santiago Chimaltenango) y Torasant (Todos Santos Cuchumatán). Aunque vivimos lejos de nuestra tierra, mantenemos un firme compromiso con honrar y fortalecer nuestras tradiciones de tejido, así como con continuar creando y transformando nuestras prácticas en la diáspora. Estamos desarrollando nuestras capacidades de liderazgo. Somos creativas. Somos resilientes. Nos apoyamos mutuamente en comunidad.
Ja weya ob’aj wij, ex weya nchemaj / Mi Historia, Mi Telar / My Story, My Weaving is 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.
2026 Art Exhibition at Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore, San Francisco, CA
April 1 - May 10, 2026
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 11, 2-6 pm
Closing Reception: Saturday, May 9, 2-6 pm
2025 Visual Art Installation and Performances at East Side Arts Alliance Cultural Center, Oakland, CA
August 2 - 24, 2025.
Artist Reception followed the Saturday, August 16 performance.
The mission of Grupo Artista Telar Maya Mam is to develop leadership and cultivate self-determination in a cohort of Mam women. We practice and share backstrap weaving traditions from our homeland. We give presentations about our histories and experiences as immigrant women. We create artistic performances based on our own stories and share them with audiences of all backgrounds.
Maria Vicente Jimenez (Facilitator and Project Manager) grew up in Santiago Chimaltenango, Huehuetenango, Guatemala and has been weaving since she was a young girl. She currently works as a Spanish-Mam interpreter and advocate. She is committed to social justice, especially language justice. She works at Oakland Promise, an organization that provides “cradle-to-college” support and career preparation in the form of financial, advisory and resource support to youth of all ages. Maria works to support the Mam community so that they can have full access to society. She promotes women's transformation and healing and is committed to developing the leadership of Indigenous Maya Mam women. She is deeply connected with the Mam community in Oakland and is regarded as a generous and compassionate teacher.
Photos by Scott Tsuchitani
Ja weya ob’aj wij, ex weya nchemaj / Mi Historia, Mi Telar / My Story, My Weaving is 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 Commission, 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.
