Postcard from Oaxaca, Mexico: Reflections of vivid colors and fluttering flags

At right: Arbor Day first-day cover illustrating the immensity of the landmark Montezuma cypress tree in Santa Maria de Tule, six miles outside of Oaxaca, in the collection of Museo del Filatelia de Oaxaca

Having cast my ballot, I need a break from the news to reflect on anything but the election. So I’m offering both you and me a pictorial distraction from a trip earlier this year to Oaxaca.

I was born in Italy during the era of Mussolini, who made all trains run on time. Immediately thereafter, I moved to México where the trains are never on time, but where once they start moving, they pass pyramids.”

Surrealist artist Pedro Friedeberg (1936-), interviewed by William Van Meter for Artnet, July 29, 2024

“Postcards” naturally never visits Oaxaca without a stop by the stamp museum, Museo de Filatelia de Oaxaca, or MUFI. With installations such as a stamp-covered VW Beetle, this museum manages to take the nerdiness out of my childhood hobby of stamp-collecting. Although I haven’t played chess since about 8th grade, it’s hard not to lust for Pedro Friedeberg’s stamp-covered chess set.

Above: Works by artists Pedro Friedeberg and Santiago Solis Montes de Oca at MUFI

MUFI was founded by Alfredo Harp Helu, so I might as well leap to another of the Helu Foundation’s contributions to Oaxaca, the San Pablo Cultural Center. Offering magical escapes via puppets and marionettes. “Possible Worlds: Imagination and Everyday Life” displays figures used to tell stories.

Characters from the ancient world help bring Xolita in the Templo Mayor to life. And a father, wearing an elephant mask for some reason, and his daughter pilot a hot air balloon to embark on an adventurous journey.

Above: Story-telling puppets in an exhibition at Centro Cultural San Pablo

Oh no, I failed to escape completely. Puppets bring to mind politics.

Who can forget the meme-creating 2016 puppet lines delivered by Donald Trump during the final debate with Hillary Clinton? “No puppet. No puppet. You’re the puppet.”