Assignment 4b

Tongue Piercing

Page 9, Recto, of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis

The image above is taken from the Codex Telleriano-Remensis, a Post-Conquest religious text painted by Aztec artists in a style that is a hybrid of Mexican and European art. The worshipper is piercing his tongue and letting the blood flow as a gift to the Teteo. The tool in his hand looks like a pointed stick, rather than a thorn, bone perforator, or obsidian shard, so I believe this painting may be depicting the practice of “drawing straws through the flesh” I mentioned in my article on traditional forms of autosacrifice. If anyone’s got more information on this particular image, I’m all ears.



http://tlacochcalli.wordpress.com/2008/05/03/images-of-autosacrifice/

Observation:

I see a man piercing his own tongue. He looks to be happy rather than scared and he is doing it of his own free will, no one is forcing him to do it. The subject of the work is a sacrifice of blood to Teteo. The work seems to be drawn or painted on some sort of paper. It is a very simple drawing with not a lot of detail. It captures the basic shape of a human and a crude interpretation of some one trying to pierce their own tongue.



Interpretation:

The work is about a sacrifice. There is a brief paragraph below the picture on the website that I found it on. It says that this was a sacrifice to Teteo. The sacrifice wasn't the actual piercing but the blood falling on the ground. This was also a sacrifice that was self inflicted.



Judgment:

I chose this work of art because of its simplicity. It is a very simple drawing depicting something you don't see very often. I saw it and I wanted to understand the picture more. I think it is kind of creepy. It is a man who looks like he is willingly sticking a rod through his tongue and letting the blood pour to the floor. Even though I an slightly disturbed it gives me a lot of insight to their culture at the time. It is interesting to see how they showed their gods their devotion. I am still not too sure why they did it.



Questioning:

I would like to know where you would find a piece of art work like this, like in a book, or on a wall as art. I want to know why they think spilling blood on the floor would be a good sacrifice. Why they do it by piercing their tongue. I want to know why the artist thought it was important to make a piece about this sacrifice and why the shapes making up the person and action are so simple. There are a lot of questions this piece of art can lead you to. Maybe that is what the artist had in mind. Maybe it was a piece for storytelling.