Photography from Chiapas

The Galería MUY is pleased to present the exhibition ‘Photography of Chiapas,’ a multicultural presentation of the distinctive societies and natural environment of Chiapas, Mexico. It is an artistic exploration by three renowned photographers from Chamula, Mexico City, and New York. For this exhibition, MUY selected 10 works from each photographer, creating a dialogue between perspectives on festivals, intimate domestic moments, and natural discoveries.

Genaro Santiz (Chamula, 1979) discovered photography in his native village at the suggestion of his sister, Maruch. He went on to train with other Indigenous photographers in the Indigenous Photography Archive at CIESAS. His photography narrates experiences of Indigenous life, migration, and explores the symbolism in nature. His photo-essay book Pox: A Traditional Liquor from Chiapas (2005, CIESAS) attests to the versatility of Genaro Santiz’s work. He has exhibited his work in Mexico, the United States, and Europe.

Carlos Contreras de Oteyza (Mexico City, 1951) began his photography career in 1968. He has received 11 awards, including the prestigious Medal of Merit in Photography: Forty Years as a Photographer awarded by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). Fifteen institutions have works by the author in their permanent collections, including: the Museum of Modern Art in Houston, Texas; the Fototeca del INAH in Mexico City; the Casa de las Americas in Cuba; the Televisa Cultural Foundation; the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples; and the Nacho López Fototeca. He has extensively photographed Chiapas, and his work is described as “an inquisitive, restless, and scrutinizing gaze.” (La Jornada, Sept. 2014). (See www.carlosfotocontreras.com.mx).

Jeffrey J. Foxx (New York, 1942) is an ethnographic photographer who began his visual research of the Maya people in Chiapas in 1977, and has continued to build a photographic archive of the Maya, including extensive documentation of the Maya of Chiapas and Guatemala. This has resulted in two large-format books published by Abrams, Living Maya (1987) and Maya Textile Tradition (1997). Since 2013, his exhibition Americanos de Origen has been exhibited in museums in China. (See foxxarchive.com in various cities).