The studio of Angela Damman was once the machine room of a working hacienda, one of many left to ruin across the Yucatán. Today, a giant pendant hangs from the vaulted ceiling like an otherworldly cocoon. Woven from thousands of henequén fibres hand-spun to a gossamer sheen, the form seems to defy gravity. With surgical precision, Angela sculpts the fibres with a pair of barber’s shears — a process that will take two days to complete. In some ways, it is a world apart from her upbringing on a Minnesota family farm. In others, it feels like a return home.
As with her illuminated sculptures, Angela lights up when she talks about the henequén. It’s not what drew her to a new life in rural Yucatán, but it quickly became her passion. “I grew up with the understanding that finding sustainable value in plants is what feeds our families, our communities, and, quite honestly, our spirit,” Angela said. You can see the evidence of that ethos most profoundly in the relationships she has built with the local artisans. Many of these mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers have worked with Angela from the moment she came to them with a vision and an opportunity — to push the boundaries of their craft.
With her own resources and a few small grants, Angela has launched a grassroots project (Maya Youth Artisan Initiative) that empowers young Maya women to preserve and reimagine the ancestral art of weaving henequén on backstrap looms.
From humble beginnings with the henequén, Angela and her husband, Scott Damman, now cultivate their own native agave and sansevieria. In working with the fibres that they strip, wash, comb, and dye on the property, Angela has come to see the plants as her greatest teachers. Drawing on her background in textile design and biocarbohydrate applications, she breaks down her design process to a cellular level, allowing the unique characteristics of each plant’s fibre to inspire and guide her. Failure fuels her as much as success; she has learned to never give up on an idea, her studio filled with creative acts of defiance.
Angela Damman loves to be alone with her thoughts. Every morning, just after dawn, she clips into the pedals of her 25-year-old GT racing bike and heads out on the backroads that surround the nearby pueblo. “I like to ride at the same time every day, so I see the same people,” Angela said. “Farmers going to their fields. Cocinas económicas blowing their conch shells to welcome customers. Women in the local village, out together for their morning walk.” The early morning is also when Angela does some of her best thinking. “I plan my day and come up with new ideas,” said Angela. “There’s almost nothing I can’t solve when I’m on my ride, immersed in nature, in a place I love.”
Tactile Resistance was published in the Hacienda Issue of Yucatan Magazine in November 2025. Many thanks to Creative Director and Photographer Patricia Robert and Lee Steele, Editorial Director, for the challenge to capture these five amazing women – in under 500 words! Much gratitude to (l to r) Marcela Diaz, Josefina Larrain, Marjorie Skouras, Angela Damman, and Elena Martínez Bolio – for giving me your time and trust. I encourage readers to find out more about these talented humans via their websites.
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