AZTECS!
Offrende, Lissa Barnum artist, AZTEC Exhibition, Australian Museum
What was this extraordinary empire that gave us chocolate and chillies, words like avocado and tomato, a language that survives today and much to be learnt from a people who populated the largest city of its time, practiced sustainable agriculture and valued universal education, as well as providing the stuff of nightmares (or Hollywood epics) – their rituals of human sacrifice?
Tune in to Arts Thursday 25th September when Maisy Stapleton introduces the Australian Museum’s current exhibition AZTECS.
The Museum’s Aztec exhibition uncovers the amazing story of the Aztecs – their daily life, the stratas of society, Aztec art, food, markets, military life and beliefs and the religious system which underpinned their existence.
The exhibition does not shy away from the darker side of Aztec life – the ritual sacrifice – beating hearts ripped from living bodies, child victims sacrificed so their tears brought rain, shrines drenched with blood and the leering god of the underworld, his liver bursting from his body, ready to snatch you away.
The Aztec Empire ended with the Spanish conquerors who decimated the population with guns and smallpox and worked hard to obliterate Aztec culture.
The exhibition however, concludes with some legacies off the Aztec empire – food, art, design and the joyous Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead, honouring the dead and celebrating life.
Join Maisy Stapleton on Arts Thursday as she speaks with Historian Barry Carr, Fran Dorey, the Australian Museum’s Project Manager of the Aztec exhibition and Lyssa Barnum, an artist and designer who has created a glorious Offrende, or offering for the Day of the Dead.
You can also replay the program after the show, go to https://eastsidefm.org/arts/artsthursday/ and scroll down to September 25th
The interviews will also be podcast, so stay tuned …..