A Shadow Born of Earth: New Photography in Mexico

Manipulation, collages, construction and laser copying along with a vigorous earthy sensibility, characterize the novel and disturbing images by 16 Mexican photographers in this catalogue for a traveling exhibition. There is a strong sense here of a people in flux and self-examination, of sensual religiosity, of fantasy rooted in despair. Corporeality and the body as metaphor are prevalent themes but with a distinctive twist: the superimposed organs of Laura Gonzalez and Adolfo Patino smack of Frida Kahlo; while Yolanda Andrade's photos of the Day of the Dead are worthy of Posada's calavera s (skeletons). Whether the symbolism is Christian, as in Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, or Aztec, as in Gerardo Suter's work, religion is evident in the artistic vocabulary. Still an intense observation of the natural world through studio close-ups (Laura Cohen) or a common situation like a U.S. border crossing (Eniac Martinez) captivate these innovative successors to the earlier and better-known photographers Tina Modotti and Manuel Alvarez Bravo. Curator Ferrer's clear, warm and stylish text is in both English and Spanish. (Feb.)