Machete- and knife-carved Bursera copal wood zoomorphic sculpture painted in Zapotec codex dot-and-fretwork patterns across Arrazola and San Martín Tilcajete.
Carvers shape green branches of fragrant copal wood (Bursera glabrifolia) with machetes and pocketknives while the timber is still soft, cure the forms in sun and shade to prevent splitting, seal cracks with copal-sawdust paste, and paint intricate Zapotec tonalá-animal symbols using agave-thorn tips and fine brushes. 1
Coupled with community reforestation nurseries replanting native copal groves across the Central Valleys of Oaxaca. 1
