He is Amuzgo, a Native Group of Costa Chica
Mauricio López Moctezuma was born in Ometepec Township, located in the Amuzga Zone in the Costa Chica region of Guerrero, Mexico. The Amuzgo people are one of the largest indigenous groups in the Costa Chica Region, which also has a large population of Afro-Mexicans.
The Amuzgos maintain much of their native language and traditional dress. They are known for their textiles and handicrafts. Their communities are impoverished, and their economies primarily depend on subsistence agriculture and handicraft production.
Mauricio was one of ten children. He lived at home until the age of twenty, helping his father to support the family by cultivating corn, beans, and sesame. He chased the dream of a better job opportunity to sustain the family home, so Mauricio moved “upstate” to Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, in 1987.
“I didn’t speak Spanish,” he says. “I used to make 5 pesos a day in my hometown of Ometepec, but when I came to Zihuatanejo in the late 80s, I could make 15 pesos a day. That was a lot of money for me then,” he says.
He Created a Process to Turn Mud into Clay
When he arrived in Zihuatanejo, Mauricio made his home on La Ropa Beach. It was there that he rediscovered his childhood love for the land – the mud – and his talent for its mastery. Through many trials and failures, he gradually developed a process to turn the mud of Zihuatanejo into clay that allows him to create his sculptures.