Mesoamerican Painting: Social Memory on Virtual Display

Painting traditions in Mesoamerica provide an essential resource for understanding Precolumbian culture and the interplay between audience and content. Murals on public display convey political and religious messages designed to inform the community and visitors from afar. Other forms of mural paintings are more private, conveying esoteric messages for elites. Similar content can be found in the ritual codices, especially the Maya codices and the Borgia Group manuscripts. These painted screenfolds suggest an interchange of elite knowledge about religion, natural history and prognostications for daily life. Local rulers may have been the guardians of Mixtec codices recording information about history, religious rituals, royal lineages and political events dating from Precolumbian times through the 16th century. Colonial period codices of Central Mexico, recognized as a blend of Postconquest and Precolumbian traditions, are a rich repository of information on historical events and religious beliefs designed for a restricted audience of priests and elites. As a broad tradition, Mesomaerican paintings can be seen as an important key to understanding how the message conveyed relates to the intended audience, and how the paintings themselves record the social memory of individual communities.