Booklook Magazine issue 1 'Apron - Delantal'

The first issue – Booklook Apron-Delantal – shares a text (in both English and Spanish) by artist and researcher María Naidich about the Tseltalero dress, a garment created and worn by women from both Tseltal and Tojolabal communities in the Lacandon jungle, in southeastern Mexico. The Tseltalero dress represents an expression of women’s resistance to centuries of control over their clothing since the colonial times. It is a garment that is produced collectively and strengthens relationships between women, allowing them to organize and function autonomously. The Tseltalero dress represents the relationships between the community, its environment and other human and non-human beings. Based on the Tojolabal understanding that endows all beings with a heart, the Tseltalero dress has a hart too, suggesting the dress is alive. María’s research on this dress is developed in conversation with the Tojolabal community of San Gregorio la Esperanza. It explores the complex value of this dress within the Tojolabal and Tseltal worldview, sharing some ideas about beauty, garments and the body from a non-Eurocentric perspective.