Dr. Sonia Ocaña Ruiz illuminates New Spain at the continental crossroads of colonialism, Catholicism, and Japanese culture from the 16th century, through a Mexican Enconchado of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
Mexico City was beating heart of the Spanish Empire in the 16th century, connecting the continents of Asia and the Americas. Exclusively produced in 'New Spain', mother-of-pearl paintings, or enconchados, embody the artistic and religious standards imposed by imperial Europe. But their shimmering façades also reveal how cross-continental flows of goods and peoples informed a uniquely New Spanish cultural identity - perhaps none more so than Japanese lacquers. Few enconchados still survive today. This vision of the Virgin of Guadalupe is a rare final testament to how Mexican and Asian artists received and resisted European cultural hegemony, and how colonial territories were often more cosmopolitan than their imperial cores.
PRESENTER: Dr. Sonia Ocaña Ruiz, professor of history at Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco. She is a member of Japón y España: Relaciones a Través del Arte.
ART: Mexican Enconchado of the Virgin of Guadalupe (c. 1700s).
IMAGE: ‘The Virgin of Guadalupe'.
SOUNDS: Manuel de Sumaya.
PRODUCER: Jelena Sofronijevic.

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