by
Pilar Jiménez
Español
The
present diversity and vitality of Contemporary Mexican photography
can be seen in an exhibition with 450 images of 45 different photographers,
brought together for the first time ever in China by master photographers
Pedro Meyer and Francisco Mata.
The
title of the exhibition is The Gaze
of 45 Mexican Photographers and
it is held at the Guangdong Contemporary
Art Museum, one of the three
most important museums of the Asian Giant. The curators managed to
gather an all-inclusive collection with the work of photographers of
different ages, styles and temperaments, yet, this collection sums
up the plurality and rigor of Contemporary Mexican Photography.
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"The
map drawn by the curators of this show takes us to an intense voyage
through the visual cartography of Mexico in the 20th and 21st Centuries" ,
said Wang Rui , photography critic and curator, who is considered
China's top expert in Mexican Photography.
The show features printed and framed works by 15 Contemporary Mexican
photographers (150 images) and the digital projection of the works
of another 30 photographers (300 images), which means that this is
the biggest-ever Mexican Photography exhibition held in China.
The show features classics by Antonio Turok, Eniac Martinez and Mata
and Meyer themselves, works by Patricia Aridjis and Enrique Villaseñor,
the very Mexican vision of Yolanda Andrade, Jesus Hernandez Claire
and Raul Ortega, the provocative images of the brothers Gerardo and
Fernando Montiel Klint, and the imaginary scenes of Oscar Guzman. A
digital slide show is projected in one of the halls of the museum and
features the work of photographers such as Victor Mendiola, Gilberto
Chen, Jose Carlo Gonzales, Vida Yovanovich, Pablo Ortiz Monasterio
and Ernesto Muñiz, among others.
"I think it is vital that in this moment of rapid development taking
place in China, not only in its economy but also in the field of the
arts, we establish a new bridge of communication with the Chinese public
and critique by making known the relevance of the Mexican Photographic
tradition ", Meyer explains.
Meyer is satisfied by the results of the project that began a year
ago and which had the support of the Museum and the Mexican Foreign
Office, which supplied the airplane tickets for the 10 photographers
that attended the opening. Meyer has established himself as an active
promoter of this Mexican Art form in this Asian country.
Meyer also has a lot of interest in Chinese Photography
"I've seen fantastic stuff, I believe these artists have such drive and
pace, that they will find their own way very quickly, even though they are going
through a phase in which they still need to find referents, nonetheless, the
Image is a part of them, they think and write in pictographic images, in graphic
terms."
"Their idiosyncrasy is similar to the Mexicans', that is why we can identify
with them more easily than with a Frenchman ore even an American, and our language
and understanding is more direct", he added.
Meyer is devoted to photography and, last year he was participated in the Photography
Festival of Pingyao and edited al book-catalogue of his own work. In late,
2008 the Mexican photographer will exhibit a retrospective of his work in
the Fine Arts Museum of China, the most important of this Asian country.
Meyer has been a promoter of the Mexican photography over the last 30 years,
since he took the Latin American images to the Venice Biennale of 76. Meyer
continues his tireless work in his Web site www.zonezero.com.
Pilar Jiménez
/ Correspondent
Reforma News
Guangzhou November 22, 2007