Opening Reception January 27
Mexic-Arte Museum looks forward to collaborating with photographer Diego Huerta for the upcoming exhibition 31K Portraits for Peace opening January 27. Diego Huertas 31K project represents the over 31,000 people killed throughout the ongoing drug wars in Mexico. In the photography, there is no distinction between the sitters color of skin, social status, religion or political beliefs. Diego Huerta and project partner Daniela Gutirrez have travelled throughout Mexico and arrived at cities like Guadalajara, Campeche, Tamaulipas, Michoacn, Ciudad de Mxico, Mazatlan, and Baja California.
For over 180 days Diego and Daniela have cataloged their project on both their website and Facebook pages providing followers with current photos and video diary excerpts from their national journeys throughout Mexico. 31Ks large-scale vivid photographs portray the breadth of lives lost and the hope for peace that still remains in Mexico. With each 31K photograph Diego presents the panoply of Mexican life. Each colorful image captures a vignette of the Mexican people from students, families, street performers, artisans, businessmen, and priests.
Diegos photographs truly portray the color that constitutes the Mexican landscape and the cultural identity of the nation. The ironic part of this photographic journey is that although each sitter represents a drug-related death, the persons represented in each photo emit an overwhelming positivity. The images do not capture a solemn, somber nation that is mourning its tragedies but instead a people that evoke resiliency and triumph.
Mexic-Arte Museum will display selected vinyl photographs from the 31K Project as well as video excerpts from the 31K Project journey.The exhibition will not be confined to our inside walls.
Along our 5th Street exterior wall space we will continue the promotion of the 31K Project with a public display of vinyl photographs. Capital Metro Transit and Mexic-Arte Museum will becollaborating with one hundred in bus placards, three small bus wraps, and exhibition advertisements at various bus stops throughout Austin.
31K Portraits for Peace Panel Date: January 28, 2012 Time: 2:00pm Admission: Free Where: Mexic-Arte Museum The program will offer a moderated panel consisting of 31K Project founders Diego Huerta and Daniella Gutirrez and scholars Dr. Genaro Garcia and Dr. Ricardo Ainsle.Dr. Genaro J. Guiterrez is an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin and the Director of the Executive MBA program in Mexico. Ricardo Ainslie is the author of "The Savior of Juarez: Mexico at the Time of the Great Drug War" (in press). He is a writer, filmmaker, and psychologist who teaches at the University of Texas at Austin. This panel discussion is funded by Humanities Texas.