Sharing the World

Jan Chamberlain might be what you'd call a tourist/collector.

Most of the time the artistic objects she acquires on her travels are meant for her viewing pleasure alone.

But between her recent departure to Mexico and now, something changed.

On that trip Chamberlain visited some of the more remote areas of Northern Mexico's Sierra Madre mountain range, where she came in contact with the Tarahumara and Huichol tribes, second-class citizens of Mexico. They were separated from Chamberlain by language and custom -- they neither spoke English nor Spanish.

Chamberlain did what she could to document their culture. With a little pretrip research in her mind, Chamberlain sought out the tribes. She took pictures in their villages, trying to be as little an interference as possible.

Jan Chamberlain will be exhibiting crafts from local tribes and photos she took on her trip to Mexico a year ago. (AARON EISENHAUER ~ aeisenhauer@semissourian.com)

Chamberlain bought several pieces of that art. Tonight she's displaying their art and her photographs at the Garden Gallery.

"This stuff," as the down-to-earth Chamberlain calls the art, isn't what most would consider "high art." You won't find it in galleries, Chamberlain says. But if you look at it, you will understand at least a little of the culture of people rarely seen by vacationers to Mexico's sunny beaches.

And that's the point of this exercise. Chamberlain, who usually keeps what she finds on her travels to herself, wants people to see the products of these cultures they probably don't even know exist. Those beach-happy tourists likely come into contact with tribes people in urban markets, where their women have set up shop by day to make some supplemental income selling crafts.

But how many know these aren't your typical Mexicans?