Gods, Guns and Butterfly Wings

It is often the unexpected that gives delight and proves "worth the detour" as Michelin so nicely puts it. The main entrance to the Palazzo delle Esposizioni has been turned into a replica of the steps of a temple in the mysterious city of Teotihuacan and the La città degli Dei exhibition advertised throughout the city. Arranged in collaboration with the Mexican government it is the major attraction of three exhibits at the Palazzo celebrating two major events in the history of Mexico: the 200th anniversary of the fight of Independence and the 100th of the beginning of the Revolution.

Città is indeed a major display of archaeological items from the once great city-state that existed 45 kms north of what is now Mexico City. Many of the items come from the famous Museo Nacional de Antropologia as well other Mexican and International collections. However I found it less of interest than the two exhibits that surrounded it. If I sound a little jaded it is just that I have climbed the Pyramid of the Moon and walked the Avenue of the Dead on at least 14 occasions and spent many hours at the Museo Nacional during our time in the DF. Not that there were not new wonders to see or remarkable items to become reacquainted with but more that familiarity had perhaps dulled my sense of awe at what was a beautifully displayed group of artifacts. As an interesting little side bar: most of the display cabinets were mounted on boxes of sandy earth much like what you find yourself walking in on a visit to the actual site. A clever touch on the part of the exhibition designers.

One of the iconic photographs of the Mexican Revolution - Soldaderas aboard a train - they served as camp followers (nursing, feeding, providing sexual companionship) but would also engage in battle when required.

The second floor houses what I found to be the more interesting of the two major exhibitions: Mexico: Immagini di una Rivoluzione*. 179 black and white photographs trace the ten bloody years (1910-1920) of the Revolution. Though some of the photos are posed there are a goodly number of scenes on the actual battlefields which are remarkable considering the equipment of the time. Most of the key players of the Revolution - Diaz, Zapata, Madero, Pancho Villa (left) - are captured on gelatin and glass plate but so are the ordinary players in the conflict. Many of the photos are brutal - mangled bodies, the moment of execution, hospital wards, hanged corpses held up by their captors for the camera - others are almost laughable such as a group of society ladies posing with rifles and a Revolutionary commander. But all of them reveal aspects of the conflict and the struggle to forge a new Mexico. And kudos to John Mraz (Universidad Autónoma di Puebla) and his curatorial team for their well thought-out theme-sections and explanations placing the photos in both their social, technical and historical context.

The third exhibit came as a happy surprise. Our friend Joe, who is a big fan of modern art, mentioned it but I, having been exposed to quite a few tedious examples during our time in Poland, tend to be wary of "installations". Carlos Amorales: Remix is the Mexican artist's first show in Italy and is made up of five pieces based on his use of what he calls an Archivo líquido - or an archive of digital photos he has taken, downloaded or scanned. He works with this archive to create drawings, slides, videos, collages, paintings, sculptures and installations. Often his work appears only as enormous groupings of black silhouettes on white grounds. Sometimes they can seem threatening, at others joyful or again just perplexing. The five installations overlap and it is can be difficult to see where one begins and the other ends.

Drifting Star is a gigantic mobile of 751 black Plexiglas fragments suspended in the central exhibition area. Wandering amongst them is a rather dazzling experience - a bit like being lost in a euphoric moment in Star Wars.

And dazzling would be the word for this swam of butterflies in Black Cloud. Amorales has created 25,000 paper silhouettes of 30 different types of butterflies that swarm over walls and ceilings. I swear you can almost hear the flapping of their wings - I was reminded of the yearly Butterfly Migration from Canada and the U.S. to Michoacan and Mexico states.

Again an unexpected delight and like the Photography exhibit definitely more than "worth the detour".

And a more than satisfactory way to break up the gallery strolling was the great buffet lunch - gods before, guns and butterflies after - at the Palazzo's Colonna Restaurant. An excellent choice of dishes, a good selection of wines and attentive service by a young and friendly staff. The price for the buffet or the daily menu is reasonable and the vaulted glass setting isn't too shabby either.

*For some reason this exhibit ends on January 9th while the rest are in place until the end of February??? Strano, as we say, molto strano!

05 gennaio - San Telesforo

Día de los Muertos - Mixquic 1987

As I worked on the posting for November 2 - All Soul's Day - one of those little memory drawers opened and I recalled a Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) fiesta back in 1987. Laurent was in Mexico City on his first posting. I was able - through juggled work schedules and thanks to working for an airline - to get down for a month at a time once every two or three months. We were lucky - the peso was low, the economy booming and despite the death and destruction that the 1986 earthquake had caused, the city and country was vibrant and bustling.

Part of learning about the culture was realizing that the images of death were always present - as a theme it ran through art, music, religion and folk traditions. The strange mixture of Aztec and Christian traditions that in another place would seem dark and unduly fatalistic here had an openly sardonic irony that was in so many ways healthier than that Anglo-Protestant fear of death I grew up with.

In Mexico death was part of life and at no time was that more apparent than on the Feast of the Dead. And in particular in the small town of San Andrés Mixquic just south of Mexico City in the Distrito Federal. It is a three day event there - part street fair, part carnival and part honouring the dead by families and friends. Many of the traditions are common to most towns and villages - the bread of the dead, the sugar skulls and strange skeleton figures but in Mixquic they are know for the decorations on the graves and the traditional altars to loved ones set up in homes. Families work on elaborate floral mosaics and prepare graves with candles and incense for a Feast with their Dead.

I did not take many photos that day but I think this one was perhaps the best and seemed to sum up so much of what the day was about.


A left click will take you to a short slide show of a few of the other photos that were taken that day.

05 novembre - Beato Guido Maria Conforti

Mexico City, D.F. - the D Stands for Dense

A Google search for the name of a small town outside the Distrito Federale (yeah actually that's what the D stands for) led me to the a series of fascinating aerial photos of Mexico City and Environs. The photographer is a helicopter pilot and from what I can gather his last name is Ruiz.

We have so many good memories from our two years in Mexico City - the people, the places and even the pollution. I have dined out for years on the story of the day the pollution was so bad that birds were falling out of the trees and dying. The next day El Nationale, the Government newspaper, baldly announced that the birds were dying, not from the polluton but due to .... poor diet and lack of exercise!!!!

As well as his photos of the DF Senor Ruiz has two slideshows (El Pais 1 & El Pais 2) which highlight the beauty that people who think of Mexico as being only Cancun and Acapulo miss.