“I had three objectives in Mexico, and three weeks to fulfil them.”

Tessa Laird’s Quarterly Essay is a quest to find the maker of the marvellous diablito that she bought from a Mexican shop in San Antonio, Texas. These diablitos are elaborately sculpted polychrome pottery forms that reflect ongoing Indigenous beliefs in trickster spirits. Laird has just published a book on bats for the Reaktion Animal series. Her interest in the fluid relationship between humans and animals finds so much to share in the rich crafts and beliefs of Mexico,

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Tessa Laird