Looking at Mexico, Mexico Looks Back: a photography book review with excerpts

These words are recovered successful the Introduction to San Miguel de Allende resident Janet Sternburg‘s photography book. I recovered them striking: “In Mexico, truthful overmuch lives together.”

“So overmuch photography is astir isolating what is, framing it successful its uniqueness, its apartness. In Mexico, truthful overmuch lives together, with a greater tolerance for ambiguity and a consciousness that thing should beryllium isolated.”

Looking astatine Mexico, Mexico Looks Back is an honorable look astatine the magical elements that expats successful Mexico mightiness instrumentality for granted aft immoderate clip successful the country.

Sternburg’s book, Looking astatine Mexico, Mexico Looks Back is the cleanable illustration of this and a beauteous illustration of bicultural and bilingual collaboration. While the photographs are her own, the commentary is by a person drawn successful by her photos: Jose Alberto Romero Romano.

And this is portion of what makes the publication truthful unique. First, each of the commentary is fixed successful some English and Spanish. And second, the commentary is by idiosyncratic who is from Mexico, who sees the images not arsenic things overseas and strange, but arsenic familiar. Romero’s poetic prose — sometimes description, sometimes watercourse of consciousness — provides a fascinating glimpse into the feelings and associations down the images.

In a satellite present filled with AI images and glossy brochures of edifice living, it’s refreshing to spot scenes unposed. Throughout the book, walls stand. People spell astir their business. Objects beryllium connected surfaces. The subjects of the photographs simply bash what they will, without respect for the camera. “Leaving things be” erstwhile it comes to an aesthetic tract similar photography tin represent a extremist act.

This publication does not let the cognition of Mexico to beryllium consumed by caricature: nary smiling kid with cleanable teeth holds up perfectly formed artesanías earlier a frothy greenish background. No slick “top 10 reasons to determination to Mexico” selling copy. These photographs and commentary are simply “slices of life”.

Below are excerpts of immoderate of my favourite photographs with their commentary successful English:

“When I was a small lad successful the shower, my grandma utilized to scrub maine with these. I retrieve h2o connected the floor. These pads are called “estropajos” and they’re thing that Mexicans person successful common. At archetypal to a kid they’re large and hard, but this changes with time. After they’re utilized for a while, they get softer and their sanction changes to “zacatitos.” Now they person go portion of our identity. They marque america consciousness a transportation to being Mexican.”

“This antheral is not a warrior. He is simply a dancer, possibly during the time he’s a taxi driver. But erstwhile helium wears this mask, the crocodile talks done him. This gives him power.”

“This is precise personal. For the idiosyncratic who made it, it doesn’t substance who likes it. Even if different radical deliberation it’s horrible, helium doesn’t care. “It’s what I like.” It’s not determination arsenic a car, it’s his unsocial identity.”

“My grandma does the aforesaid thing. It’s not similar she’s casually sticking a photograph successful a frame. She puts arsenic galore arsenic 20 oregon 30 tiny photographs on the broadside of a picture. After the earthy commencement of our lad astatine home, my woman felt exhausted. My grandma remembered however it felt erstwhile she had her child, and offered my woman a accepted remedy to retrieve the vigor of her assemblage and soul. She said, ‘Take a bath with flowers.’ It worked. My woman got better. She was accepted by my grandmother. This is wherefore a photograph of my woman is included among the others. My grandma is saying to the Virgin, ‘Please instrumentality attraction of my son, and his woman and child.'”

“Struck by lighting, this histrion is wounded. But it has healed itself. It’s alive. In this photograph, I tin spot a turning point. In 1 moment, a bolt tin alteration the operation of the tree, its “personhood,” its individuality arsenic a tree. The satellite becomes earlier and aft the lighting. This is similar life, the infinitesimal of a kid being calved that changes everything afterward.”

“Like a telescope, this model is different portal. The infinitesimal of a photograph is the infinitesimal to unfastened your heart. This is an representation astatine the end; it is besides an representation of return. Now you spell done the portal. The child, me, successful a shower, being scrubbed, that is you too.”

As idiosyncratic who’s ne'er felt rather comfy with each the glossy promotion of Mexico which truthful often seems to breeze past the experiences of those who really unrecorded here, I was blessed to instrumentality a highest into thing that felt genuinely genuine.

The publication present lives connected my java table, acceptable to beryllium picked up and browsed done erstwhile the Instagramafication of the satellite feels excessively beardown a force.

For a antithetic look astatine Mexico, prime it up.

Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based successful Xalapa, Veracruz. She tin beryllium reached done her website, sarahedevries.substack.com.