Mexico · Beadwork / Mosaic Craft
Chaquira (glass seed bead); xukuri/rukuri (beaded votive gourd bowl)
The individual hand-placement of tiny glass seed beads (chaquira) into a beeswax-and-pine-resin adhesive coating carved wood figures, masks, votive gourd bowls, and other three-dimensional forms into dense, mosaic-like surfaces of sacred Wixárika imagery, executed entirely freehand from the artist's own visual and spiritual knowledge without any drawn guide or outline.
Risk level: Vulnerable · Not currently inscribed on a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list; Mexico is a State Party to the UNESCO 2003 Convention (ratified 14 December 2005) and could nominate this technique in the future.
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