“It was an honor for me,” said artist Noé Silva. “The truth is that it was something we had been working on for over a year until it was finally completed and inaugurated.”
After years of controversy over its portrayal of the Aztec warrior, San Diego State University unveiled a trio of new images on Oct. 2 that look to better reflect the culture behind the school’s moniker.
SDSU retired the warrior mascot in 2018 but kept the Aztec name for its student body and athletic teams. The new iconography, SDSU said, is meant to honor Aztec history while maintaining the sense of community that has developed around the identity.
The three glyphs — Ehecatl (wind), Ocelotl (jaguar) and Calli (house) — were drawn from the Aztec Sun Stone, a massive basalt sculpture unearthed in 1790 that contains intricate hieroglyphics with layered meanings in Aztec cosmology. Each symbol aligns with a core SDSU value: education (wind), health (jaguar) and community (house).
Silva was commissioned to adapt the symbols into modern athletic marks. Born in Mexico City and now based in Coahuila, his work is rooted in Mesoamerican heritage, making the project both a professional opportunity and a cultural responsibility.
“I have always felt proud of our culture,” Silva said. “For me, showing something created by a Mexican and having people embrace it and welcome it is very beautiful and makes me very proud.”
From left to right, the wind represents education through Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent god of intelligence and self-reflection. The jaguar represents Tezcatlipoca, god of the night sky and time, tied to valor and grit. The house represents Tepeyollotl, god of echoes and animals, symbolizing rest and family.
To bring these concepts to life, Silva immersed himself in historical research.
“The creative process I followed was mainly to research these griffins in Mexica and Teca culture,” he said. “There were approximately ten versions of each, in which we went through trial and error, drawing, erasing, reworking what had already been erased.”
He described the biggest artistic challenge as capturing each glyph’s essence. Ehecatl and Ocelotl needed to project “aggressive and strong” energy, he explained, while Calli intentionally conveyed stillness and community. The Sun Stone itself guided much of his design work.
“They passed me the taps directly from the Aztec stone,” Silva said. “These elements were already very familiar to me; I already knew them, but even so, I liked trying to learn more. They were the ones who gave me the elements; I just captured them.”
A visible shift on campus
The university made clear that this shift does not signal a return to Monty Montezuma or the Aztec warrior, controversial mascots deemed culturally
inappropriate. Instead, the glyphs are already appearing across athletic jerseys, fan apparel and the Snapdragon Stadium field, where they were painted into the end zones during SDSU’s Mountain West football opener against Colorado State.
Seeing his designs presented at such a scale was a surreal moment for Silva. During the game, he was honored with a framed SDSU football jersey alongside Athletic Director J.D. Wicker.
“I didn’t know how intense it would be,” he said. “It’s a very beautiful stadium, very big, and it was a real honor for me to see people wearing T-shirts, to see the taps printed on the grass, to see the screens.”
Cultural interpretation and artistic responsibility
Silva hopes the glyphs don’t just serve as logos, but as living symbols for the SDSU community.
“Each symbol has a concept behind it,” he said. “People give it their own interpretation and make it their own … I think that each person will adopt it according to their own personality and who they are.”
On the responsibility of artists representing Indigenous heritage, Silva emphasized the importance of respect and reinterpretation rather than replication.
“I do believe that artists should respect our ancestors, and this respect means bringing them closer and giving these issues a point of view,” he said. “What the university said was to give this reinterpretation, not devaluing it, not giving it another negative connotation, but rather giving it a sense of power and, above all, respect in the way it is presented.”
For Silva, the project marked a personal breakthrough.
“It represents a big step that I had never taken before,” he said. “This experience of going to San Diego has helped me a lot to lose my fear, to break out a little bit and to be able to move forward and continue expressing my art internationally.”
