La Puente, CA

This is one of a three part series about ‘la Malinche,’ the Nahua woman who translated and interpreted the Nahuatl of the Aztecs for the conquistador Hernan Cortés. She is said to have been a noble woman, sold into slavery, and later traded to the Spanish by the Maya. She was present at the first meeting between Cortés and Moctezuma, and acted as an interpreter between them. After the conquest, she had a son with Hernan Cortes who is considered by some to be the original Mestizo.

Malinche is a controversial figure in Mexican history, some brand her as a traitor, even blaming her for the conquest of Mexico, while others view her as a powerful female figure who overcame her circumstances and became the mother of the Mexican race.

Here I have portrayed here in a position of reverence, surrounded with allusions to the Virgin Mary, and Coatlicue, the Aztec mother of the gods with the skirt of snakes. In her arms she holds Martín, her son, cloaked in the Mexican flag.