Tulum 圖盧姆 トゥルム遺跡

The name of the costume by Nicola Pignoli and Ilaria Cavalli, of the theater company Caraval Spettacoli, is called Tulum, with inspirations drawn from the Mayan world.

The costume wins the Best Costume Award at this year's Venice Canrevale.

My Italian friends Nicola and Ilaria, a couple in real life, have enchanted the audience and judges with Tulum, their costume inspired by the world of the Maya and created with the collaboration of Aurora Rossini. Ilaria impersonates an ancient divinity while Nicola plays the role of a totem. 

Tulum is the site of a pre-Columbian Mayan walled city which served as a major port for Coba, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The ruins are situated on 12-meter-tall (39 ft) cliffs along the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula on the Caribbean Sea. Tulum was one of the last cities built and inhabited by the Maya and achieved its greatest prominence between the 13th and 15th centuries. Maya continued to occupy Tulum for about 70 years after the Spanish began occupying Mexico, but the city was abandoned by the end of the 16th century. Tulum is one of the best-preserved coastal Maya sites, and today it is a popular site for tourists.

Nicola plays the role of the totem of Ah Puch, the Mayan god of death, darkness, and disaster, who is often depicted as a skeletal or bloated figure, and is associated with the ninth hell of the underworld, Mitnal. Mitnal, is the ninth and lowest level of the underworld, a place of fear and suffering. Gods of death are rarely portrayed in a pleasant light, however their characters were more often seen as ambivalent or non-threatening. However, what if there was a death god who viewed living beings as their prey? And went about hunting them like an owl hunting mice? Enter Ah Puch, one of several gods of death in Maya mythology, so feared he had no temples or rituals dedicated to him, instead ways to repel him like a disease! The Maya had a deep fear of death, and Ah Puch was a figure to be feared... Ah Puch appears in pre-Conquest codices alongside the god of war in scenes of human sacrifice. 

Ilaria plays the role of the Mayan High Priestess. The head featured on her hat is the Descending God. This is the "God" associated with the ancient Mayan city of Tulum, particularly featured in the Temple of the Frescoes. The Descending God (also known as the Diving God), is believed to symbolize the connection between the earthly realm and the underworld, and is associated with Venus and the sunset. 

The costumes of Nicola Pignoli and Ilaria Cavalli are always a sight to behold. Their costumes are always extremely different from the rest of the Venice Carnevale and I am so excited to photograph them every year.

The Venice Carnevale is not solely about masks. Local Italians prefer historical costumes or painted faces. During Carnevale, the whole Venice becomes a real life theatrical stage, and many of these historical costumes carry deep perspectives...

They are really fun to photograph and provide a breath of fresh ideas to my photo works at the Venice Carnevale.

As usual, all photos done using natural lighting only...