Introduction
Ancient Maya” refers to the civilization that thrived in the lowlands of southeastern Mexico, northern Guatemala, Belize, and western Honduras before the arrival of Europeans in the region in the sixteenth century. As in other Mesoamerican cultures, Classic-period (250–950 CE) Maya supernatural entities were manifestations of forces of nature such as the sun, rain, wind, lightning, and maize. Based on the many objects found in nature, Maya artists made artworks representing deities, animals, and other curious-looking forms of life. Rulers of Maya cities in the Classic period assumed the names of deities, acting as incarnations of these deities during ritual and dance. The dead were believed to transform to deities, and, as a result, the mortal and supernatural worlds were inherently inseparable.
The exhibition Forces of Nature: Ancient Maya Arts from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an exploration of the rich supernatural world in ancient Maya art. The exhibition contains over 200 pieces of Mesoamerican American artworks from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in a look at how the ancient Maya portrayed the supernatural world in visual art, ritual, and performance and how their rulers integrated the supernatural and the pursuit of authority.
