The complex intersection of art, religion, indigenous culture, and tourism underlies the world explored in Forged in Iron: The Expressive Art of the Roof Cross Tradition in Chiapas, Mexico, focusing on twenty-three, handcrafted iron crosses from c. 1900-2000. The exhibition traces the story of this folk art genre of roof crosses in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, which was founded shortly after the Spanish conquered the region in 1528. Part of the city’s decorative ironwork tradition dating back to the seventeenth century, the crosses of San Cristóbal tap into the area’s deep-rooted practice of Catholicism along with the earlier symbolism of the “Maya World Tree.” As such, they are powerful illustrations of the ways that native cultures and colonial powers merged to form new expressions in regional folk art. Now a modern art form sought after by collectors and curators, these crosses also demonstrate how long-standing vernacular folk practices can be fueled and changed through the process of contemporary collecting and tourism.

In Chiapas, the custom of installing a cross on the roof of a home to safeguard the family started late in the Colonial period. First made of wood, the crosses gradually changed as local ironworkers began forging more permanent forms and introduced design variations. Inspired by church weathervanes, these original craftsmen joined art and religion by blending Christian imagery and Spanish conquest motifs with familiar symbols from their pre-Columbian past. The earliest iron crosses were relatively simple cruciforms with a few added ornaments referring specifically to the passion and death of Christ. Over time, ironworkers added more secular motifs to their designs. Increasingly ornate styles emerged, featuring intricate elements intended to be viewed from a wall rather than a rooftop. Today, tourists and folk art enthusiasts eagerly collect San Cristóbal’s crosses. The most dramatic cross, the “Passion Cross,” is a heavily adorned, religiously-inspired object recognized as a popular souvenir and memento of a visit to Chiapas.
The exhibition includes recreations of historic designs made by local artisans along with others that adorned private homes in San Cristóbal. They represent four primary types of Chiapas metalwork: original roof crosses, wall crosses with secular motifs, Passion crosses with Christian symbols, and modern decorative crosses. A selection of other ornamental objects, including door hardware in the form of animal silhouettes and other examples provides a more comprehensive view of Mexican decorative metalwork.

To deepen viewers’ understanding of these objects and their aesthetic and cultural origins, Forged in Iron also features approximately thirty craftsman’s tools and related ethnographic objects, as well as more than ten photographic enlargements showing the ironworkers, their workshops, and cultural settings of the region. In its exploration of the objects, the craftsmen, and their stories, the exhibition focuses a positive light on a politically fragile area of our neighbor to the south and poses intriguing questions about the nature of regional folk art in a global society.
Forged in Iron is the culmination of more than fifteen years of research by exhibition curator Virginia Ann Guess, who began studying and collecting the folk art of the region in 1992. She recently published an in-depth study of this art form, Spirit of Chiapas; The Expressive Art of the Roof Cross Tradition (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2004).