El patrimonio maya es la tierra (‘Maya heritage is the earth’): the work of contemporary Yucatec Maya artist Luis May Ku

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This article investigates Yucatec Maya heritage and identity through the perspective of Indigenous ways of knowing. The focus is the work of Luis May Ku, a contemporary self-identified Yucatec Maya artist from the community of Dzan in the state of Yucatán (Mexico). It considers the interplay of heritage discourses and power hierarchies as they apply to his life in Dzan, in Coba, where he has been teaching, and his outreach to international bodies, like the British Museum, and global marketing. My analysis is a case study of the layered, fluid, shifting, and ambivalent notions of Maya heritage and identity. I situate his artwork and practice in a wider context of Indigenous identity struggles, as seen through Tim Ingold’s relational model and other bottom-up heritage movements. These seek alternatives to capitalism, take strides to de-colonize land, and provide local lessons which – when applied more widely – can help make the more planet sustainable.