OAXACAN INDIGO
Indigofera Suffruticosa / Jiquilite Plant / Añil / Indigo / Blue Gold
- I made a playlist dedicated to the color BLUE for your listening pleasure -
OAXACAN INDIGO
Images and words by Christina Hattler
Have you ever heard Duke Ellington’s instrumental version of “Mood Indigo” from the 60’s? It’s a moody ten minute journey into the fantastically velvet range of the blues of one’s own emotions (put it on while you read this and thank me later :). True indigo has a palette as equally profound. A natural colorant derived from a plant which can run as deep and dark as the Mariana Trench to as light and airy as the palest Baroque cherub-filled sky, an entire universe in one plant. Natural dyers who dye textiles with it and the farmers and producers who hand make it, seem to hold it as close to their souls as one would a religion, possessed at once by its mystery and fickleness, requiring nothing less than a fanatical devotion. Talking to an indigo devotee on the subject turns intellectual, scientific, anthropological, historical and artistic in a heartbeat. So very heady and intimidating! But once you dive in, I mean really go to the darkest and bluest depths, it seems impossible to ever truly escape its hold on you.
The rural community of Santiago Niltepec, translating to ‘Hill of Indigo’ has been commercially producing the dye material since the 18th century and theirs is one of a handful of communities worldwide where indigo is still grown and produced in a traditional manner, which means by hand and entirely without machinery. There is scarce historical information on the history of production in Niltepec, whose more industrialzed process was brought south to the Isthmus region which served as a highly important trade route to Europe. The Jiquilite plant, which requires the sweltering humid heat and blazing sun is also endemic to the area. The original Añileros (indigo makers) were most likely producing indigo under conditions of forced labor as was common in Indigo production around the colonized world and as demand ceased to the invention of synthetic dyes the production in Niltepec slowly died out where no more than two families continued a very small production carried into this century. A larger scale production was recently revived over the last 10-12 years due to local interventions via the Textile Museum of Oaxaca and local foundations when it was realized that Mexican indigo farming and production was at a severe risk of extinction. The community also saw an increased demand from domestic and international artisans and designers seeking to create more sustainable textiles in traditional ways, all of this instilling a renewed sense of pride within the community for their own distinct cultural heritage.
I visited Santiago Niltepec for the 2nd official “Feria de Añil” (Indigo fair) and met with many incredible producers and farmers, who against all odds continue to harvest and process this highly volatile crop each year, choosing to continue on and fulfill the high demand as best they are able. In 2023 there was almost zero production due to a country-wide drought and in 2024, due to excessive rainfall many harvests also failed. Currently there are approximately 20 families left in the entirety of Mexico who are formally growing and producing indigo with the help of local hired seasonal workers and each year less and less is being produced. Earthquakes, severe and unpredictable weather from the effects of climate change, poverty and a lack of long-term governmental and non-governmental support are the primary factors in the decline of this rich cultural heritage.
The distinct Jilquilite plant grown in this region along with the traditional way this particular indigo is processed is unique to the world of indigo production and creates some of the highest quality in the marketplace. The crop is sowed without the use of fertilizers or chemicals on rotation by hand every three years and hand harvested with either a machete or scythe twice a year in August and September before the plant makes flowers, if the plant is left to flower, the color is less intense because the plant’s energy is focused on creating seeds and not color. A portion of the crops each year are left to seed and saved to be used for future plantings. Once harvested, the plants are packed into bundles and loaded into an oxen-driven cart. The plants are then immediately brought to the ‘Pilas’ (cement and/or brick baths) to be processed into indigo which involves a highly labor intensive and volatile process. In its entirety, taking 2 full days and nights of manual labor for each 4-5 kilos of indigo (200 kilos of plant yields approximately 1 kilo of dried indigo). The bundles are first placed into the pila then submerged for a fermentation process of about 12 hours with water from the nearby crystalline river, where the plant bundles are held down with large slabs of wood and rocks. In this process the water will transform into a green color. When ready, the bath is unplugged (it is plugged with a gray color locally foraged clay) and the liquid directed to another “pila” located parallel and slightly below the first bath. The Añileros then spend 4-8 hours aerating the liquid with long heavy poles made of bamboo with a flat slab of wood at the end. This process creates a thick gorgeous minty colored foam with an end goal of eliminating the foam and turning the liquid to a rich and royal blue. Only the most trained añilero (with biceps that would make anyone swoon) knows exactly the right moment it is ready. If they stop too soon or too late into the process the production will fail. Once the mixture has reached its ideal point, one kilo of a freshly picked berry, called “Gulaver”, unique to this process in Niltepec, is placed into the pila which helps allow the blue pigment to settle to the bottom of the tank, completely separating it from the water. In other parts of the world cal (powdered lime) is used to help settle the pigment, which also seems to affect the quality of the indigo as there is less actual indigofera suffruticosa in the end product. I squished one of the berries in my fingers and it's clear interior juices have an extremely tacky, sticky texture. The older and recently revived comunal pilas in town has a huge old-growth Gulivar tree adjacent to them, also giving much needed shade to the hard working and exhausted añileros.
In about 4-5 hours the pigment is completely separated from the water and then another clay filled hole is unplugged for the separated water to be re-released back into the river. Since there are no chemicals involved in the process the water is considered clean. What’s left at the bottom of the pila is blue gold. It is scraped into another much smaller holding tank, collected and then brought to the producer’s home to then be dried (usually by women) in a process that is not unlike cheese making. The gelatinous shiny blue mass is placed in a conical hanging cotton cloth supported by wooden structures outside the home to further extract the last bits of water. Once the indigo is entirely water-free it is scraped into a brick red roof tile to sit under the sun for 12-15 days to further dry it into a rock hard consistency. It is then broken up into smaller ‘rocks’ and sold by the kilo directly to the artisans and designers who work with it. Indigo is often referred to as ‘blue gold’ due to its extremely high market value (current 2024 cost purchased directly with a producer runs 3,000-3,500 MXN per kilo, although I heard a producer was selling it for as high as 4,500 MXN this year. At times a producer will have their indigo tested to ensure the quality to buyers but this process seems like something that is not a frequent occurrence.
The farmers and producers, from what I understand, currently receive no monetary funding from domestic or international entities and are in dire need of assistance for basic solutions such as irrigation, water capture systems and ongoing infrastructure issues. Organizing as a cooperative would also, it seem, help to incentivise others within the community to learn and take part in the production in addition to protecting local interests over outside ones. Continuing an important knowledge base that would also allow the group to hold more power when setting their price each year in addition to standardizing the quality which can vary. There is an increasing international demand for this historically important, rare and sustainable colorant along with a deep desire within the local and surrounding communities to reignite larger scale production and attain a more stabilized local economy.
The Feria, still in its early days, is an important step towards reviving this town’s traditional livelihood, officially celebrating centuries of history and hard work along with opening up opportunities for knowledge exchanges. Curious outsiders come to learn of the farmer´s and producer´s carefully honed skills, in addition to outsiders showing the town what they know about the craft of working with indigo, information such as how to make a vat and how to dye with it, knowledge which was surprisingly absent in the town is quickly absorbed by the community. Walking though the center of Santiago Niltepec these days you will see women in traditional clothing of this region, a huipil and falda (skirt and blouse) lined with the typical ribbon and lace, but now the fabric of the hupils and faldas have been dyed a beautiful sky blue with a type of tye dye pattern in the style of a Japanese shibori, an optimistic sign that Niltepec is not only thriving again but creating new traditions.
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It was a transcendental experience to have been able to attend this event. If you are able to take the journey I highly recommend reaching out to be accompanied by Abigail Rothberg who has been to Niltepec many times and has close ties within the community. Lucky she also knows how to get there (!!) it's a long but spectacular, seven hour drive south from Oaxaca City and she is extremely knowledgeable on the subject of Indigo. She’s so hard core that she even travels with her own indigo filled vat, as she joyously states, “you never know when you might want to dye something!” a detail which made me appreciate her and the trip even more and shows you just how fanatical the indigo folk can be ;)
I have dabbled in creating a few vats over the years, a vat is how the dried indigo powder is reduced and then made into a colorant which will literally cover anything- plastic even (!) and is a very different process than working with natural dyes. It is a process I am entering into slowly and with deep reverence (church!) and my next mini collection of one of a kind pieces is going to be made with the magical indigo I purchased on this trip. It will be reassessed in late October, just in time for Dia de los Muertos!
Below are some images I took of the families, farmers, process and the town in Santiago Niltepec during the fair.
