©1997 Museum of International
Folk Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Angel Wisdom, justice, knowledge, protection, faith, inspiration Bars Despair, hopelessness, confinement, life interrupted Birds Peace, harmony, courting/dating, companionship, building a family, freedom, life, liberty Blood Life, power, spiritual life Bubbles Mystery, distance, history, dreams, visions Butterfly Beauty, new creation, rebirth, new spiritual life, a clean life (drug free) Car/Low Rider Independence, freedom, distinction, mobility, rebellion Chains Incarceration, brutality, confinement Clown Hidden feelings, masks, false pretenses Gun Death, evil power, revenge, revolution Heart Love, devotion Hourglass Time passing slowly, jail sentence Jesus (The Man of Sorrows, "El Chuy") hope, truth, salvation, creator, life

Key Freedom from oppression and incarceration, knowledge, wisdom, opportunity Mexican Revolutionary Figures (Emiliano Zapata, Pancho Villa, Joaquín Murrieta) Ethnic pride, reclamation of the past, dignity, cultural preservation Pachuco Nostalgia, resistance to assimilation, ethnic pride Peacock Beauty, pride, machismo, anger Playing Cards Gambling, risks, vice Praying Hands  Faith, unity through faith in God Rose Hope, passion, beauty Snake Evil, Satan, the dark side of man, temptation, corruption, drugs Spider Web Entrapment, imprisonment Tears Grief, sorrow, pain, death Unicorn Magic, myth, romance, rebirth, purity, isolation, loneliness, alienation Watch Tower Prison, authority, surveillance Virgin of Guadalupe/La Virgen de Guadalupe Patron saint of Mexico and Hispanic peoples, mother, protector, comforter