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Chico, a graffiti artist, recently graced the sidewalk with a rattlesnake. It’s such a friendly looking snake I don’t feel dread or danger walking over it. “Will it bite me?” is a question someone with a guilty conscience might ask. I’ve always liked snakes and yet have to admit their silence can make my heart jump when I see them. Out of nowhere. There they are. But snakes are good. They eat the vermin that really kill us. Mice cause a lot fires by chewing through electric wires. Snakes save human lives. When I was a kid one of the few fights I ever got in was defending a black snake about to be killed by other kids. Snakes are beautiful. Their patterns shimmer curling and gliding away from us with easy certainty although Chico’s culebra happily stays.
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The following three paintings with snakes in them are by Francisco Toldeo who has created a school for textiles and other indigenous arts in Oaxaca, Mexico.
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Culebra Azul y Personaje by Francisco Toledo…
Cinco Conejos by Francisco Toledo