LATINAS MEXICO
© Maria Mercader
Magical Realism
Latin America is again very much in the news. Popular discontent and massive demonstrations have been rocking the political systems of several countries in the last months. The immediate reasons are very different, political, economic, or social. The impact also varies, from riots to falling governments, from constitutional change to millions of refugees. This political tsunami affects equally countries governed by the left or by the right.
Latin American countries remain the most unequal societies on the planet. Whatever the measure used, there are huge wealth and income differences in all Latin American countries, with a tiny elite of super-rich, a shrinking middle class , and a vast majority of poor and excluded. This is fertile ground for discontent and periodic violence. This is very much the case of Mexico.
"Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the USA" is a statement usually (and wrongly) attributed to former President and dictator Porfirio Diaz but it nonetheless gives useful hints about this unique and fascinating country.
It is by far the largest Spanish speaking country in the world and the largest source of migrants to the United States, ensuring its cultural influence not only in the whole of Latin America but also in the USA, where several metropolis and even States have become de facto or de jure bilingual. From Novelas to Narcos, from Octavio Paz to Carlos Fuentes, from tacos to enchiladas, Mexican culture is everywhere in the Americas.
Home for centuries to sophisticated pre-Columbian cultures, including Olmecs, Mayas, Aztecs and others that spanned Meso-America until the arrival of Spanish conquistadores, it has always retained a strong native culture in spite of widespread mixing of populations and, lately, proximity to the USA giant.
This mestizo identity is present in all areas of Mexican life and culture and, inevitably, also in its photography. Although it shares many of the characteristics of other Latin American societies, it presents many unique features that no doubt transpire in the work of the photographers we present in this exhibition.
(image © Ana Gomez De Leon)
A look from Mexico, a country that has been traditionally portrayed to the world through the male eye, embodies in this exhibition the power, strength and sensitivity that emanates from contemporary Mexican women, that now take to the streets and are not willing to go backwards.
© Ximena Echague, Fernanda Pineda 2020