Mexico’s pottery of the night

In Oaxaca, traditional black pottery is making a comeback as a sustainable alternative to throwaway plastics.

Project for National Geographic

In the Oaxacan village of San Bartolo Coyotepec, legend contends the clay is blessed. Artisans who use it to make Oaxaca’s famous barro negro, black clay pottery, are reluctant to reveal its secrets.

Made from clay mined on the slopes of the Sierra Madre across the valley, these pieces started out the color of wet mud. Impregnated with heat and smoke, they transformed into sleek greys and blacks evocative of twilight’s darkest hour. It’s no wonder ancient Zapotec folktales call barro negro “pottery of the night.”