Maya Jaguar Paddler God - Belize Travel Poster - Framed

 
Travel Poster 24" × 36"
Ready to frame . Printed and shipped within 2-6 business days.
 
Jaguar Paddler God by Savanna Redman.
Original painted in Serti technique on silk.
 
In Maya mythology, the Jaguar Paddler God steers the Maize God, Stingray God, and Animal Gods through the underworld in his canoe — a journey of death and resurrection at the heart of Maya cosmology. He has the power, strength, and wisdom to lead the dangerous voyage of a soul's passage between worlds.
 
I first encountered a fragment of this Maya god carved on a bone in reference materials loaned to me by Dr. Herman Smith — the only resident PhD archaeologist in Belize at the time — when I was living in Belize and drawing my first maps of the country. The symbology pulled me in and never let go.
 
The original Jaguar Paddler God art is depicted on a small incised bone carving found in Burial 116, located deep within the Tikal Temple-I — Temple of the Great Jaguar. I used a simple sketch for my artistic interpretation.
 
I painted him using the Serti technique on silk.
Serti technique, from the French word serti, meaning to enclose or fence, is where you lay down resist lines to contain each area of color, the way a riverbank contains water. Then you flood the fenced areas of silk with dye. The silk threads pull the fluid differently than paper does — faster, less forgiving — and there are no do-overs. Every line, every wash, committed on the first pass. I love the process.
 
The glyphs surrounding him are ones I chose from my years of studying Mayan glyphs and art — Fresh (New) Earth, Sun, Earth, Jaguar, and Sunrise are some of my favorites. Not prescribed by the iconography. Chosen because they felt right for a figure who moves between the worlds.
 
This is not a copy of Maya art. It is an interpretation — made by an artist who was living in Belize, sat at the ruins drawing, and spent years learning to read what the Maya left on their walls, bones, and pottery.

If you enjoy signed fine art the Jaguar Paddler God archival giclee is available with multiple options and a signed Certificate of Authenticity (mailed separately).