Inside the taller, or workshop, in the small village of Santa Ana Zegache, local artists create unique painted mirrors, wooden figurines, and other traditional items. The taller employs around sixteen artists to create work to be sold in their shop in nearby Oaxaca City. A town that struggles economically, many of Zegache’s residents are forced to travel north to find work, but the taller is a beacon of light in the community.
It all began when master painter Rodolfo Morales began a restoration project of the seventeenth-century Dominican church that is present in the town. Morales began workshops in the community to teach restoration skills to local villagers and employed them to help with the restoration. Now, after the completion of the church’s restoration, the workshops continue to pass on traditional artisan skills and employ local men and women as they preserve the historical and artistic legacy of their community. Georgina Saldana, an artist and former student of Morales, now oversees the taller and the artists. The beautiful artwork can be viewed and purchased in the Zegache shop in Oaxaca City or in the village itself, with its beautifully-restored church just a short drive outside the city.
