The restoration of La Moreña’s wall paintings, La Barca, Jalisco: interventions, partial results, and reflections on an encrym-inah project

Abstract

La Moreña’s wall paintings, housed in a building now used as a cultural centre for the community of La Barca in southern Jalisco, are very relevant to Mexican political and artistic history. In 2007, the ENCRyM-INAH started a restoration project, under the direction of Professor Sergio Montero, to attend to the complex deterioration problems of the murals. This contribution reports on the conservation and restoration processes carried out during the second period of the project, in 2009, which were focused on the recovery of the images. The challenges, resources, procedures, and results involved in the treatment of the alterations affecting both the authenticity and readability of the mural scenes are described, with particular emphasis on the exploration of the use of gels for cleaning and the elimination of ethically questionable visual re-integrations. This paper concludes with a series of thoughts on the restorer’s role, all of which derived from the unique experience acquired during this 10-month period of hard work restoring La Moreña’s mural paintings.