Ok, you won’t listen to me or your brother or your doctor. Then try listening to a few icons of Mexican culture, like Che Guevara, Frida Kahlo, and Emiliano Zapata. During 2021, the artist Enrique Díaz has harnessed iconography and linoleum engraving art to deliver the ultimate survival message.

His works — this is only a sampling — is on display in Belles Artes, the recently reopened Centro Cultural Ignacio Ramírez El Nigromante at Calle del Dr Ignacio Hernandez Macias #75 in Centro.

Extra: Masked art — like these 10 murals — has been with us since the pandemic began

The one-time nunnery and girls finishing school doesn’t seem fully open just yet. There is a new bookstore that I was bruskly shooed out of, as it was not open. No reopened coffeeshop, yet. I saw listings for a handful of arts classes recently. Perhaps soon there will be many more.

Just the same, enter the central courtyard (above image) with its welcoming shade trees, feel the cool air, stroll around, sit, and calm your mind. It is all as it was once before.

Meanwhile, check out the exhibit by Enrique Díaz and listen to his art. Be like Che. Be like Frida. Be like Emiliano.

Wash your hands, wear a mask, get vaccinated. The rest of us are counting on you.