Robert Castillo

“The Unknown Voyager”
Zaragoza alabaster
40x40x40cm
(16x16x16”)
2024

My masters thesis explores my Mayan heritage, and the impact the Spanish invasion of Abya Yala (aka the Americas) has had on my ability to connect with this ancestry. A section of the paper discusses the Mayan’s use of psychedelics in their religious practices.

Documentation from the 16th century confirms that the Mayans consumed a variety of intoxicating substances as part of their quest to connect with the Divine. Diego de Landa wrote in his 1566 book “Relación de las cosas de Yucatán” that “the Indians consumed alcohol and drugs in immense quantities.”

Psychedelic mushrooms were among these substances. Amanita muscaria is one of 54 types of hallucinogenic mushrooms that grow in southern Mexico and Guatemala, where the Quiché Mayans refer to it as “kaquiljá” (“lightning”) and “itzel ocox” (“evil mushroom”).

The Mayans often depicted the use of these mushrooms in their sculptures and drawings. This sculpture aims to continue the sculpting lineage of my ancestors by depicting a being from the Great Beyond offering mushrooms to us human beings.

The title refers to a deeper aspect of the work. “Voyager” refers to the trip one experiences when consuming psychedelics. “Unknown” points to the idea that we’ll never know what Mayan culture would have developed into today as a result of the Spanish invasions.