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The work of Mantra is a true visual delight. Its first wall reminds us of the importance of water as a generator of life and the death and despair of its absence. It is located at the western end of the building, in a narrow and cloudy passage that connects two important avenues of the city, surrounded by grey walls and floors stained by years of walking. The Mantra altarpiece is erected with grace and color, as nature does on a daily basis, as if flowers had bloomed on those walls and a monarch butterfly reigned over the alley. On the left, a sea turtle skull lies on a fishing net, as in Tre Packard’s original photograph. The transformative power of the art of Mantra has accentuated the enormous force of nature to make everything bloom, pristine, even in the darkest alley.

The technical ability of Mantra is almost disconcerting. However, it is from the metaphor contained in the mural that the strength to move the passer-by is born. The piece identifies us with nature, to be more human. We see a huge female presence that gazes with delight at the fertile nature. It is an allegory about biodiversity, with the purpose of showing that humanity has the capacity to interact with the natural environment in complete harmony and balance. The main character is inspired by the female deities of water in Mesoamerica and represents nature in its original splendor. From the east side of the dome, the Mantra piece dances with the west side, the lizard Cipactli beset by the pollution of Goal and Ryper, completing the dance game of the four directions of the world on the Dome and under the Sun. With a quetzal on his shoulder, a salamander, a butterfly, a whale shark and other natural beings representing the wealth of the world connected by the same element – water.

In collaboration and within the main altarpiece, Renata Martínez and Aaron Glasson also developed an altarpiece. In it they tell the story of thirst and the absence of water. On the far right, Macedonia Blas Flores, the indigenous woman and human rights defender who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, holds a jug of water with the attributes of Tlaloc. Behind him, a man with Spanish features holds another jar that has been broken by an indigenous boy to take advantage of his runoff and feed a garden.

The mural covers different topics such as water pollution, marine fauna affected by contaminated water, difficulties in getting water to the house, floods and droughts. Also at the bottom center of the composition, a piece by Renata shows the desperation in the form of a person trying to drink from a bottle so that the bottle seems to be drinking from it. On the far left and beyond the parking lot wall, the artists depict a masculine face that peeks under the surface of the water to look at the garbage, including a Spanish conqueror’s helmet. Next to it is the message “plastic is toxic”, inside a pet bottle, in the hand of a skeleton…

At the center of the mural, two stone figures symbolize nature and the creation of man, in a reflection that tells us that both the idol and the stone are of the same material, so why not preserve nature in the same way that the work of man is preserved?

“””Traced on the façade that gives access to the Science and Technology Museum of Foucault’s pendulum, Sermob’s mural speaks of the indivisible in the world. Sea creatures merge with the human archetype, highlighting the way in which the species that inhabit the earth are irretrievably linked; we are all one universal entity and the actions of one species can profoundly affect the existence of the other. In this way the angles in the shape and the watery figures that maintain the background composition direct our view upwards.

At the top of the piece, a person balances two buckets, symbolizing Tlaloc and the difficulty of bringing water to people. With this metaphor of Sermob, each inhabitant becomes a sort of Tlaloc, a god whose strength has been reduced before the action of others and whose need to bring water to those he loves plunges him into difficult tasks. Cities are no strangers to this, when the great mass becomes a single entity with a name; the Tlaloc that carries water to them becomes a snake hundreds of kilometres long, like the “”Aqueduct II””, until it reaches the inhabitants of the city who seem to live with naivety without knowing that perhaps in less than three years it will probably be an act of hope to open a tap.

The piece by the artist, originally from Iztapalapa, but who has lived in Querétaro for years, finishes off with vegetal accents of nopal whose importance has been vital in the life of the citizens since the foundation of the city and whose existence would be impossible without water. Sermob’s sharp and neat line defines an almost surgical precision that attracts visitors inside the children’s museum of “”the pendulum””, where behind the smile of every little boy awaits an inspired citizen who will be part of the generation of change agents that the country needs, those who will make Tlaloc its lightest burden.