Sacred Portals: Mural for the Town Hall of Mulchén
This commissioned public art project was created for the Municipality of Mulchén, a city located in the south of Chile. At its heart stands the image of a Machi, a sacred woman and spiritual guide of the Mapuche culture—one of the most ancient Indigenous communities in the center-south of Chile.
She rises solemnly at the center of the staircase, robed in austere garments, embodying quiet power. The Southern Cross constellation (La Cruz del Sur) is delicately painted across her face, anchoring her presence to the cosmos. Behind her, a Kultrún—the ritual drum and inseparable instrument of the Machi—appears as a halo, nodding to traditional Western iconography of divinity and sanctity.
The Machi is the bridge, the living conduit between ancestral wisdom and the present.
Flanking her figure, three sacred plants float across the pictorial plane:
– Llantén, rising upward, associated with healing;
– Canelo flower, placed centrally, symbolizing the sacred;
– Ruda, pointing downward, a plant of protection.
Flanking her figure, three sacred plants float across the pictorial plane:
– Llantén, rising upward, associated with healing;
– Canelo flower, placed centrally, symbolizing the sacred;
– Ruda, pointing downward, a plant of protection.
Their placement subtly references the Nag Mapu and Wenu Mapu—the Mapuche cosmology of the world above and the world below, expressing the interconnectedness of spiritual realms.
This mural was not only an artistic creation but the result of an extensive collaborative effort between the artists and the Municipality of Mulchén, including Mayor Nibaldo Alegría. From curatorial vision and planning, to publicity and cultural programming, artists Marcoco and Melissa led a process that aimed to honor and promote the cultural heritage of the city through contemporary public art.
