San Franciscans can now witness the evolution of photography in Mexico through 172 images that span from the 1920s to the present. The exhibit includes work by Mexican photographers, as well as artists drawn to the country from abroad.
The show is divided into six sections, punctuating crucial periods of change in the history of photography in Mexico.
The first section, A Period of Vital Exchange, starts in 1920, following the end of the Mexican revolution. Colonial conquest and later poverty, violence and upheaval, had endangered traditions and arts. The Ministry of Education began a program of reconstruction that led to an artistic renaissance and attracted artists and intellectuals from around the world.
Edward Weston and Tina Modotti were the most prominent contributors during this period. Their photographic work echoes the paintings of the time through the simplicity of the compositions, strong lines and dense shapes and a search for a pre-colonial aesthetic. Photography is approached for artistic purposes, as seen in Tina Modotti’s 1926 Worker’s Demonstration. This photograph of a worker’s rally is valued not because of the commentary it makes on the economic conditions of the time, but because of the aesthetically pleasing arrangement of the men’s hats as seen from above. This is part of a larger tradition of aestheticizing poverty by making the photograph and subject a commodity—something pleasant to hang on the wall, rather than something to contemplate the harsh realities of poor Mexicans at the time.
The section The Beginning of a New Art, showcasing the 1930s and ‘40s, was characterized by visual experimentation, fantasies and dreams accomplished by sometimes arranging a scene or posing art models. Manuel Alvarez Bravo was the strongest artist of this period; his exploration of Mexican life and its people speaks through their human shapes. Silhouettes and body parts tell the stories—wrinkles, hair, breasts, bellies, eyes, genitals, feet, all take turns sharing the center stage. These delicate images have a dignity and sincerity that strips away any suspicion of gratuitous nudity or intentions of titillation, which under a less delicate hand might have offended more sensitive tastes. After long observation of Alvarez Bravo’s famous image Good Reputation Sleeping, one walks away with a memory of a woman pleasantly napping under the sun. Her naked breasts and exposed pubic hair do not bring a sexualized element to the photo, and appear secondary to her mesmerizing calm.
The third section of the exhibit, Mexico in Print, which explores the 1940s – 1960s, makes a sudden departure from art and beauty to a harsh look at reality. The expanding field of newspapers and magazines prompted many photojournalistic opportunities. Nacho López captures the reality of life in Mexico with a humorous flair in his 1959 Coffin Manufacturers, which depicts a man smiling wide as he is being measured for a coffin. But perhaps it is Enrique Metinides who witnesses the worst things reality has to offer. His photographs, mostly horrifying accidents, murders and suicides, somehow manage to soften the carnage through thoughtful compositions. Observers might feel guilty when they catch themselves enjoying the aesthetic of this brutal imagery.
In the following period, A New Documentary Impulse, which covers 1960s – 1980s, photographers create extended studies of different communities and sections of the population. Many of them focused on the struggles of indigenous communities. However, this period initiated a notable tradition that continues in present day Mexican photography, showcasing the exceptionally rich. Rebelling against a long running photojournalistic tradition that has idealized and aestheticized the indigenous and poor, many photographers instead turned their lenses to the very privileged. For the first time, photographers explored economic inequities by exposing the sometimes ridiculously lavish lifestyles of Mexico’s elite.
The Changing Landscape of Contemporary Mexico brings us to modern day photography, characterized by an interest in sprawling cities and suburbs, the urban landscape and how Mexicans live. Pablo Lopez Luz focuses his attention on Mexico City’s sprawl.
“In Mexico, there has been a pictoric tradition of the Valley of Mexico,” he said. “I wanted to enter this pictoric story but from a contemporary point of view, to show this classical landscape of Mexico, the way it looks today.”
His aerial landscapes show the shapes of the valley, now filled with buildings.
Alejandro Cartagena’s work follows a similar theme. He offers an exploration of low-income suburban development in the state of Monterrey and the “consequences of uncontrolled growth of a city.”
The exhibit ends with the section Looking Across the Border, focusing on the immigration phenomenon as seen through this region, focusing on the geography, architecture, and the border crossers themselves.
After taking in so much imagery, one has to wonder, what new topics or subjects will be explored in the future? What makes modern photography modern?
Photographer Alejandro Cartagena observes that, “what has always happened in photography is that you find something, you shoot it, and there it is … The great contribution of contemporary photography, is that it doesn’t need to be so explicit.”
Cartagena notes that one can explore a subject with photographs that do not necessarily include that subject in the image. For instance, Cartagena’s exploration of the suburb not only shows images of the community, but also how it has impacted surrounding landscapes miles away from his actual subject.
“If you understand what has been photographed in the past, you will understand what you can photograph in the present, or whether something was missed.”
The SFMOMA exhibit runs through July 8.