Naco Gallery Cafe

From colonial times the word naco was a pejorative word used to describe native people, who tended to be poor and without formal education. Recently, however, the word has been reclaimed by modern young Mexicans. For them, naco can mean ‘cool.’ NACO Gallery looks back to the origins of the word in the Totanac language. The Totanac culture ruled most of what is now Veracruz in Mexico before the Aztecs conquered them about 25 years before the Spanish conquistador Cortés landed in AD 1516. The capital city of the Totanac culture was at Zempoala, and at the time of the Spanish arrival, they numbered about 100,000 people. In the Totanac language, naco refers to the heart: “The Heart’s Town” or “The People’s Heart”