Manuel Chavajay's work moves freely, though carefully, through various media including drawing and painting, installation and A/V formats. As a Maya-Tz'utujil artist, he seeks to construct images, actions and objects that render poetic forms of denunciation and vindication of his culture and his heritage. Like other indigenous artists of his generation, Chavajay conceives contemporary art as a space for healing but also as a means to reclaim a history and a visual culture that it has been largely stripped of. His work refers to the wisdom of spiritual and material practices linked to the Mayan cosmovision: a deep connection with nature and the intrinsic life and energy inherent to both living and non-living things. This reflects both a way of thinking and a way of life that have resisted despite the material and symbolic threats of a largely discriminating State as well as the colonial and globalized world. Chavajay is one of the most representative artists of his generation as well as an active social and cultural leader in his hometown of San Pedro la Lagubna.