The amate or amatl (indigenous language) is a "magical" paper made by the Ñha-Ñhu or Otomí ethnic group. The cultures pre-Columbian of the Mexican Altiplano used it to celebrate rituals, clothing, and in the elaboration of codices in the that by means of glyphs they left their history inscribed.
Today it belongs to this ethnic group and they are the unique indigenous creators and guardians of this great spiritual and cultural wealth that still They continue to use their "shamans" to perform rituals of a healing nature and various offerings to their protector gods. The amate paper is not, only a support to develop a technique, or a art, is also the reminder of a history that forces a constant dialogue between past and present, between tradition and innovation, between existence and creation.
At the end of 1983 In the San Angel market (Mexico City), Pedro Zubizarreta discovers the role of amate material, fascinated for this this durable paper, he will decide to use it as a support to create a new drawing proposal entitled "Life Cycle" (Ciclo Vital). This will for a new Serie in which a human figure is interwoven with the stratum of the mysterious texture of the paper, which makes you feel the permanence of man in life and death.