The Maya raise their own corn, which will be made into the tortillas they eat every day. They have a deep connection with Mother Earth and think of the Earth as a living being. One often hears Maya people say, “Ruk’ux ulew,” which translates as “heart of the Earth.” The Earth, and everything in it, is sacred to the Maya.

In this painting Paula Nicho Cúmez personifies Mother Earth, depicting her as a woman wearing the huipil (traditional blouse) of San Juan Comalapa, the Maya town where Paula has always lived. We see Mother Earth not only protecting the town, but also embracing the two nearby mountains. Paula personifies these two mountains, giving them faces of wise old women. The mountains are covered with designs one sees in the fabrics that Maya women weave by hand. On the two mountains Paula has painted stylized birds found on Maya weavings—like the stylized birds on Mother Earth’s huipil. She includes the exotic and endangered quetzal, the bird which symbolizes Guatemala. The mountains in the background also are covered with designs found in Maya weavings; however, these designs are more subtle than those on the mountains in the foreground. In another painting, Paula refers to the symbolism of mountains covered with weavings as “El Canto de la Naturaleza,” the “Song of Nature.”

The Maya have lived for centuries in harmony with nature. In the past decades, the young people have witnessed the problems that have been brought to their towns from the proliferation of pesticides and plastics. These young people now are often at the forefront of preserving the old ways by trying to live in harmony with nature, as this painting depicts.