Nueva Luz Vol 4 Issue 4 by En Foco, Inc.

N U E VA L U Z

photographic journal

Vol.4 No. 4 74470 00001

N U E VA LUZ Vol.4 No. 4

p l)oto ^ r a p 1) i c journal Editor Charles Biasiny-Rivera Associate Editor Betty Wilde Production Editor Miriam Romais Designer/Art Director Frank Gimpaya Translator Ileana Montalvo Interns Toby Millman Andrea Petruzzell Typography Stanley Moskotvitz Distributors Total Circulation Services Ubiquity Distributors, Inc. Bernhard DeBoer, Inc. Desert Moon Periodicals Fine Print Distributors Printing Expedi Press

Nueva Luz (ISSN 0887n5855) is a bilingual photograph ic journal devoted to photographers of Latino, African American, Asian American and Native American back grounds. Nueva Luz is published by En Foco, Inc, a not-for-prof it national visual arts organization founded in 1974 to provide professional representation and exposure to culturally diverse photographers. En Foco is located at 32 East Kingsbridge Road, Bronx, New York 10468, (718) 584-7718. Single issue price is $5.00; Individual Membership is $25.00 and includes four issues of Nueva Luz, subscription to Critical Mass Newsletter and Slide Registry application; Institutional Subscriptions are $40.00; International Memberships are $35.00; Supporting Membership is $200.00 and also includes a free cat alog and poster from a major En Foco exhibition. Portfolios of at least 15 unmounted black and white prints or slides may be submitted by photographers of culturally diverse heritage, for viewing. If mailed, the prints may be no larg er than II X 14" .A self-addressed stamped envelope and appro priate packaging must accompany all mailed portfolios to insure proper return. En Foco does not assume responsibility for pho tographs or manuscripts sent by mail. Photographers wishing to deliver portfolios in person must call to make arrangements. For advertising rates and distribution contact En Foco, Inc.

Copyright ©1995 by En Foco, Inc. All Rights Reserved Nueva Luz is made possible with funding by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer and the Bronx Delegation of the New York City Council, Bronx Council on the Arts through the Regional Arts Partnership with the New York State Council on the Arts, The National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, and The Association of Hispanic Arts through the Joyce Gilmore Foundation. All rights reserved. Nothing may be reproduced or pub lished in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher, En Foco, Inc.

Editorial Page ariana Yampolsky is the second individual we’ve chosen for a mentor issue, a special opportunity to devote the entire publication to an extraordinary photogra pher of longstanding accomplishment and influence. As photography enters the twenty-first century, it does so with the anxiety that is so much a part of our time. Our artists are becoming technocrats without noticing that their passion is being washed away along with their jeans. Smart art seems to pervade and has become institutionalized as the real art, replacing inspiration with rationality. Change is neither good nor bad, it just is. The part that usually determines our opinion of it takes place some where between our feelings and our wallet. Yampolsky has lived through many changes and has somehow managed not to be compromised by modernity’s lack of scruples. In the for ties, she traveled to Mexico to study with the post-revolutionary printmaking tallers, finding a culture so rich and excit ing that she stayed and later became a Mexican citizen. She embraced photography because she wanted to touch the people, their landscape and traditions in a more immediate way. She has never lost that motivation and con tinues to create images that are testaments to the community of people, their faith and her respect for them. Her sense of humility and generosity has helped her move through the var ious periods of change without succumbing to the lures of importance and the need for market driven super-status. Yampolsky comes from that period of image makers who were more concerned with their art benefiting the com munity of people than their own recognition as successful artists. In her quiet empathetic way, she reminds the new artist that important work does not depend upon new technology and styles but from the ability to make visible the hunger of the soul for a loving world.

ariana Yampolsky es la segunda persona que hemos escogido como mentor para un ejemplar, la cual es una opportunidad especial para dedicar esta publicacion entera a una extraord inaria fotografa con un largo historial de talento e influencia. Mientras la fotografia entra al siglo vente y uno, los hace con la anxiedad que parece ser parte de nuestra epoca. Nuestros artistas se convierten en tecnocrats sin darse cuenta que su pasion se ve destinendo junto con sus “blue jeans”. “Smart art” ha saturado el ambiente y se ha institucionalizado al lado del “arte de verdad,” reemplazando la inspiracion con la razon. El cambio es simplemente asi, no es ni malo ni bueno. Lo que normalmente forma nuestra opinion de esto ocurre en un sitio entre nuestros corazones y nuestros bolsillos. Yaampolsky ha vivido por muchos cambio y ha logrado no ser afectada por la falta de escrupulos de la modernidad. En los anos cuarenta ella viajo a Mexico para estudiar en los talleres de grabados revolucionarios donde encontro una cultura tan rica y facinante que se quedd y se hizo ciudadana mejicana. Ella se dedico a la fotografia porque queria tocar a la gente, a sus paisajes y sus tradiciones de una manera directa. Ella nunca ha perdido esa motivacion y continua creando imagenes que son testimonios a la communidad, su gente, su fe, y el respeto que ella les tiene. Su sentido de humilidad y generosidad la ha auyadado a maniobrar las diferentes etapas ae cambio sin rendirse a el atractivo del “super-status” o la vanidad. Yampolsky es de la epoca de creadores de imagenes quienes estaban mas preocupado con el beneficio que su arte le brindaba a la communidad que su propria fama como artistas. En su manera humilde y solidaria, ella le recuerda al nuevo artista que lo importante del trabajo no depende en el estilo o en la nueva tecnologia pero en tener la habilidad de poder hacer ver el hambre que tiente un corazon por un mundo mas justo. Charles Biasiny-Rivera, Editor

Charles Biasiny-Rivera, Editor

Table of Copleplj; Editorial........................................ Biography of Mariana Yampolsky. Mariana Yampolsky...................... Commentary by Elizabeth Ferrer... Comentario....................................

....... page l .......page 2 .Pages 3-29 ..... page 30 .....page 31

Cover photograph: Mariana Yampolsky, Hlva, Huejotzingo, Puebla, 1962 Gelatin silver print, 10 X 10"

Mariapa Yaippol^ky

§■

Mariana Yampolsky was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1925. She received her Bachelor of Arts in the Humanities from the University of Chicago in 1944. In that same year, she emi grated to Mexico to continue her studies in the visual arts at Escuela de Pintura y Escultura in Mexico City and later became a Mexican citizen. Her professional history as a printmaker, editor, author, curator, and photographer spans nearly five decades. Yampolsky took her first photographs in 1948 during her affiliation with Taller de Grafica Popular, in Mexico City, where she also worked as an engraver and exhibition curator. She became the first woman member of the Executive Committee of the Taller. Between 1964 and 1967, Yampolsky co-edited Lo Eterno del Arte Popular Mexicano, together with Leopoldo Mendez and Manuel Alvarez Bravo as the photog raphy editor. In this setting, the two photographers reviewed hundreds of photographs together, Alvtirez Bravo, invariably, influencing her career as a fine art photographer. She also studied with Lola Alvarez Bravo.Since the 1970s, her work has been exclusively within the photographic medium and she has been exhibited in solo and collective exhibitions internation ally throughout Mexico, Germany, France, China, India, and the United States. Recent exhibitions include Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Mexico City (1993), the Witkin Gallery, New York City (1992); Woodstock Center for Photography, Woodstock, New York (1992); Sin Fronteras Gallery, Austin, Texas (1991); National Academy of Design, New York City (1990); Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois (1990); Camden Arts Centre, London, England (1990); and the International Center for Photography, New York City (1990). Since 1981, she has had several monographs published in Mexico, including Mazahua (1993), Estanclas del Olvido (1987), Tlacotalpan (1987), and La Ralz y el Camino (1985).

Mariapa Tairipol^ky

El Angel Exterminador (The Exterminating Angel), Tlaxcala, 1991. Silver gelatin print, 11 x 14".

Mariana â&#x20AC;&#x153;Yarppol^ky

Mandil (Apron), San Simon de la Laguna, Estado de Mexico, 1987. Silver gelatiti print, 11 X 14".

Mariana 7arppol«;ky

Tres Generaciones (Three Generations), Altepexi, Puebla, 1982. Silver gelatin print, 8X7 "■

Mariana YairipolÂŤiky

Angelita de Oaxaca (Angel from Oacaca), Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, 1991. Silver gelatin print, 11 X 14".

Mariapa Yaippol<;ky

Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead), Pueblo Nuevo, Estado de Mexico, 1991. Silver gelatin print, 11 X 14â&#x20AC;?.

Mariana Yarppol^ky

A1 Filo del Tiempo (On the Edge of Time), Puebla, 1992. Silver gelatin print, 11 x 14".

Mariana "Yaippol^ky

Viejo de la Hacienda (Old Man of the ranch), San Bias, Tlaxcala, 1985. Silver gelatin prim, 11 X 14".

Mariapa Itarripol^ky

Casa de Maguey (Maguey House), Hidalgo, 1984. Silver gelatin print, 11 X 14".

Mariana Yaippol^ky

Bestia (Beast), Sochiatepec, Estado de Mexico, 1989. Silver gelatin print, 11 X 14".

Mariapa IFarppol^ky

San Bartolome del Monte (San Bartholomew of the Hill), Troje, 1986. Silver gelatin print, 11 x 14".

Mariapa Taippol^ky ife â&#x2013;

mmmi.

Capilla de Espinas (Chapel of Thorns), Puebla, 1983. Silver gelatin print, 10 x 10".

Mariarja Yarppoljiky

Maguey Capado (Castrated Maguey), Hidalgo, 1984. Silver gelatin print, 11 x 14".

Mariapa Taippol^ky

La Nube (The Cloud), Oaxaca, 1995. Silver gelatin print, 11 X 14".

Mariana 'Yarppol^ky

Hojas Protectoras (Protecting Leaves), Jalapa, Veracruz, 1994. Silver gelatin print, 10 x 10".

Mariana Yaippol^ky

Maguey del Olvido (Maguy Remenbered), Hidalgo, 1986. Silver gelatin print, 11 x 14".

Mariana Yarppol^ky

Laurel, Oaxaca, 1991. Silver gelatin print, 11 x 14".

Mariana Yairjpol^ky

Malecon (Sea Wall), Lerma, Campeche, I960. Silver gelatin print, 11 x 14".

Mariarja â&#x20AC;&#x153;Yaippol^ky

Olla para Pinatas (Pinata Jugs), San Juanico, Estado de Mexico, 1987. Silver gelatin print, 11 X 14".

Mariapa Yaippol^ky

Barda (Fence), Yolotepec, Hidalgo, 1985. Silver gelatin print, 11 X 14".

Mariana Yairjpol^ky

Petalos (Petals), Atempan, Puebla, 1975. Silver gelatin print, 11 X 14".

Mariapa YaitipolÂŤiky

Espera (Waiting), Chignaulta, Puebla, 1984. Silver gelatin print, 11 X 14".

Mariana Yaippol^ky

Hscuela Mazahua (Mazahua School), Estado de Mexico, 1975. Silver gelatin print, 10 x 10".

Mariapa Yaippol^ky

Mujeres Mazahua (Mazahua Women), 1988. Silver gelatin print, 11 x 14".

Mariana Yairjpol^ky

Caricia (Caress), San Simone de Laguna, Estado de Mexico, 1989. Silver gelatin print, 11 X 14".

Mariana Yanripol^ky

La Escoba (The Broom), Santa Maria, Oaxaca, 1987. Silver gelatin, print, 11 x 14".

Mariana Yan>pol?ky

Caballeriza (Stable), Hacienda Tecajete, Hidalgo 1986. Silver gelatin print, 11 X 14".

Mariana Yaippol^ky

El Fotbgrafo Ausente (The Absent Photographer), Tepalcingo, Morelos, 1984. Silver gelatin print, 10 x 10".

e 9 t a r

singular figure in contemporary Latin Amer ican photography, Mariana Yampolsky creates images that merge a profound respect for Mexican histo ry-embodied in the values and ways of life of the indige nous and mestizo people whom she portrays —and a vision for the future, one in which the dignity and indeed, the survival of these people, are assured. Born in Chicago in 1925, Yampolsky studied at the University of Chicago and, in 1944, came to Mexico. She became a member of the Taller de Grafica Popular, a printmakers’ collabora tive that embraced the reformist spirit and populist ideals of the post-Revolutionary era, which it promoted through the widespread dissemination of inexpensively produced linoleum cuts and woodblock prints. For many years, Yampolsky worked as a printmaker and curator for the Taller, but eventually turned to photography, seeing it as an ideal artistic medium to picture the traditional life of the country in which she had fully immersed herself. With her camera, Yampolsky has documented myriad facets of the Mexican world—popular architecture, such as the houses made by hand from adobe or maguey leaves, the solemn beauty of the countryside, and the ceremonies that ennoble the lives of common people. But it is the everyday existence of these people, above all, of the rural poor, that forms the heart and soul of her oeuvre. Yampolsky is certainly not the first photographer in Mexico to have found an affinity for Mexico’s indige nous and mestizo people; in fact, she was a student of Lola Alvarez Bravo (b. 1907-d. 1993), the pioneering mod ernist photographer who so eloquently documented her immediate world and the people around her. And among the young generation of Mexican photographers, there are several talented artists who devote themselves to por traying this segment of the population; leading exemplars include Graciela Iturbide, known for her fascinating study of the matriarchal culture of Juchitan in the state of Oaxaca, and Flor Garduno, who has photographed indigenous peoples in Mexico, as well as in such countries as Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Few photographers, howev er, so forcefully project the difficult realities of the lives of these people, even while she endows her images with enor mous grace, and often, with an undisputable beauty. That this quality resides in Yampolskys pho tographs overshadows the fact that on one level, these works are documents of protest, meant to denounce the relentless poverty and discrimination that marks the lives of the underclass. But they are more than that.

When Yampolsky abandoned printmaking for photogra phy in the mid-1960s, she was surely motivated by the capacity of this artistic medium to compellingly docu ment, and in one sense preserve, things in the world that are threatened with extinction. With a deep sense of responsibility, she has dedicated herself to creating a visu al record of the lives of people whose cultures are chang ing with frightening rapidity. That so many younger pho tographers in Mexico now turn their attention to captur ing the ironic quality of life in a country where past and present coexist so incongruously, particularly in the cities, suggests the importance of, and need for, Yampolsky’s undertaking. Mariana Yampolsky resides in Mexico City but rarely photographs there. To create her work, she travels to the countryside, sometimes near the city and other times to remote locales, where she has come to know and work with the Mazahua, the Otomi, and people of other native communities. Over the last few years, she has created a chronicle of the lives of Mazahua women from agricul tural regions of the state of Mexico, who are frequently abandoned by their husbands, who seek jobs, and inevitably begin new families, in the city. In viewing these pictures, one gains a sense that the women left behind live with a steely determination to maintain the little that they can claim as their own—their children, their land, and their beliefs. Often, their struggle is a losing one, when such women migrate to the city where they typically turn to begging or street vending, becoming even more impov erished, physically and spiritually, in the process. With Yampolsky’s images, however, they are no longer anony mous. Their lives have been indelibly recorded, and the image of them that is preserved is one of strength and vitality. Even though Yampolsky records the arduous quality of life for people who are marginalized—socially, politically and economically—she conveys a sense of hope, even if only provisionally, in these photographs. In cap turing the slow cadence of their lives, as well as those defining moments of passion and intensity, Yampolsky demonstrates the consideration due to people who contin ue to hold sacred the earth, tradition and time itself, all elements of diminished significance in Western society. In picturing individuals who perpetuate values that others have irretrievably lost, she suggests that, ultimately, these people do not live outside the mainstream, but rather, at the center of another world. Elizabeth Ferrer

Elizabeth Ferrer is an art historian and curator specializing in twentieth century Mexican art and photography. She is the head of the Visual Arts department at the Americas Society in New York City.

0 p t a r i

ariana Yampolsky es una figura unica en la fotografia latinoamericana conteporanea. Ella crea imageries que linen un profundo respeto por la historia mejicana expresada en los valores y las costumbres de los indigenas y los mestizos que ella retrata, y una vision para el futuro. Es una vision en la cual la dignidad de estos pueblos y la sobrevivencia de ellos estan aseguradas. Yampolsky nacio en Chicago en 1925 y estudio en la Universidad de Chicago. Llego a Mexico en el 1944. Alii se hizo miembro del Taller de Grafica Popular, un colaborativo de grabadores que se ataban a el espiritu reformista e ideales populares de la epoca post-revolucionaria. Estos fomentaban la difusion masiva de econdmicos xilografias y grabados en linoled. Por muchos anos Yampolsky trabajo como grabadora y curadora para el Taller pero eventualmente se dirigid a fotografia. Yampolsky vio la fotografia como un medio ideal para grabal la vida traditional en el campo en la cual ella estaba integrada. Con su camera Yampolsky ha documentado una miriada de facetas de la vida mejicana - al como la architectura popular, las viviendas hechos a mano de adobe u ojas de maguey y la belleza solemne del campo y los rituales que enriquezen la vida del pueblo. Pero sobre todo es la vida cotidiana de los pobres del campo que forman el corazon y el espiritu de su obra. Yampolsky no es la primera fotografa qu encuentra una afinidad para el pueblo indigena y meztizo de Mexico. Ella fue estudiante de Lola Alvarez Bravo (n.l907-m.l993), la fotografa modernista quien documen足 ts su mundo y la gente que lo poblaba tan expresivamente entra la generacion joven de fotografos mejicanos hay variosartistas que se dedican a retratar este segmento de la poblacion; incluyendo a Graciela Iturbide, conocida por su estudio fascinador de la cultura matriarcal de Juchitan en el departamento de Oaxaca, y Flor Garduno quien ha retratado a los indigenas en Mexico y tambien en Ecuador, Peru y Bolivia. Sin enbargo, son pocos los fotografos que han podido proyectar con tanta fuerza las realidades difidles de estos pueblos y a la vez presentar sus imagenes con una elegancia profunda y muchos veces con una belleza indiscutible Esta calidad en las fotografias de Yampolsky aveces transende el hecho de que son un trabajo de protesta para denunciar la discriminacion y la pobreza implaca足 ble que marca las vidas de los marginados. Pero por otro lado son mucho mas que eso. Cuando Yampolsky aban足

dons los grabados por la fotografia en los anos sesanta, es seguro que ella fue motivada por la capacidad de este medio artistico de documentar y preservar las cosas en este mundo que estan amenazada por el extincion. Con un profundo sentimiento de responsibilidad, ella se ha dedicado a crear un record visual de las vidas de personas cuyas culturas estan cambiando con una rapidez aluzinate. El hecho que tantos fotografos jovenes en Mexico estan capturando la calidad de vida en un pals donde co-existen el pasado y el presente en forma tan disonente, especialmente en las ciudades, nos indica la importancia y la necesidad de la obra de Yampolsky. Mariana Yampolsky reside en Ciudad Mexico pero casi nunca toma fotos alii. Para crear su obra ella viaja al campo. Aveces cerca de la ciudad y otras veces en areas remotas donde conoce y trabaja con los Mazahua, los Otomi y los pueblos de otras communidades indigenas. En los ultimos anos, ella ha creado una historia de las vidas de las mujeres Mazahua de las regiones agriculas del estado de Mexico quienes frecuentemente son abandonadas por sus maridos que se van en busca de trabajo y quienes inevitablemente forman nuevas familias en la ciudades. Viendo estas fotos, uno capta un sentido de que las mujeres abandonadas viven con determinacion de mantener lo poco que consideran suyo, sus hijos, su tierra y sus costumbres. Aveces estas mujeres pierden la lucha, cuando emigran la ciudad donde terminan vendiendo en la calle o pidiendo limonsa, volviendose aun mas pobre, fisicamente y espiritualmente. En los imagenes de Yampolsky, ya no son anonimasSus vidas quedan imborrablemente grabadas y el imagen de ellas es uno de fuerza y vitalidad. Aunque Yampolsky graba la dificil calidad de vida para un pueblo que esta socialmente, politicamente y economicamente marginado, en estas fotografias ella trans足 mite un sentido de esperanza, aunque se provisional. En capturar el ritimo lento se sus vidas y sus momentos de pasion e intensidad, Yampolsky demuestra la consideracion que se debe tener para ellos quienes continuan a considerar la tierra, las tradiciones y las mismas horas del dia como cosa sagrada. Todos esos elementos que son considerado de poca importancia en las sociedades occidentals. Mostrando a individuos que propone los valores que los otros han totalmente perdido, elle sugiera que en fin, estas personas no viven fuera de la corriente, sino que viven al centro de otro mundo. Elizabeth Ferrer

Elizabeth Ferrer es una historiadora de arte y curadora especializandose en la fotografia y en el arte de Mexico de siglo vente. Ella es la directora del departamento de Artes Visuales del Americas Society en Nueva

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