Alejandro de Ávila Blomberg

The roots of his family intertwine Oaxaca, San Luis Potosí and Finland. He was born and grew up in CDMX. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Anthropology and Physiological Psychology from Tulane University, followed by a Master’s Degree in Psychobiology and then a Doctorate in Anthropology from UC Berkeley. He has worked as a researcher and professor in three academic institutions in Mexico and established the first WWF (World Wildlife Fund) headquarters in the country. He continues to be involved in environmental and cultural activism through PRO-OAX and SERBO, two non-profit organizations in which he has collaborated since their early days. He is the Founding Director of the Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca, and curator / researcher / advisor of the Museo Textil de Oaxaca. He has published more than eighty works on traditional knowledge of plants and fungi, community conservation of nature, early biological documentation in Mexico and the history of textile arts in Mesoamerica. His work as a curator includes fifty-four exhibitions presented at various museums in Mexico, Indonesia, Lebanon and the United States. He has designed nine pieces of textile art that combine plumaria with various forgotten techniques. His love for plants and native peoples was born during his childhood, when his family lived near the Parque Chapultepec and the Museo Nacional de Antropología.