« March 2008 | Main | May 2008 »
This is a 2006 piece by Josephine Meckseper called "The Children's Crusade." There you have a standing foxtail, a plastic-wrapped toilet bowl cleaner, a mannequin hand, a shop sign warning to parents with kids, and a photograph of an anti-war demonstration. For sale? Guess so. Read more at my latest 'Letter from Mexico City,' "Braving 'New Worlds' at the Jumex Collection," on the opening of this exhibit in Ecatepec, Estado de Mexico. And on the sun, and on the party.
Above, L.A. woman Yaoska Davila on a street in Condesa on Sunday. Invites, galleries, runways, openings, magazines, DJ sets, deals, clothes, gossip. It's been nearly two weeks of non-stop art-experiencing and drink-drinking -- whenever possible and in most cases, for free. Thinking ...
No es verdad que vivimos,
no es verdad que duramos
en la tierra.
¡Yo tengo que dejar las bellas flores,
tengo que ir en busca del sitio del misterio!
Pero por breve tiempo,
hagamos nuestros los hermosos cantos.
* It's a poem from La Literatura de los Aztecas (1964), by translator Angel M. Garibay K., called la "Enigma de Vivir," or 'Enigma of Life.' * From MACO and Jumex, detailed reports are forthcoming.
* Above: Lucia Morett, just another UNAM student.
First we thought the war would be between Colombia and Ecuador, after Colombian forces breached Ecuadoran territory to assassinate FARC No. 2 Raul Reyes in early March. But it turns out the "war," a war of words at least, is now between Colombia and the UNAM, the oldest and largest institution of higher learning in the Western Hemisphere, located right here in southern Mexico City.
Last week at a diplomatic meeting in Cancun conservative Colombian President Alvaro Uribe described the four UNAM students who died in the Reyes siege as "terrorists, delinquents, and narcotraffickers." Hardly comforting words for the grieving families of the slain students, who were reportedly on a visit of the FARC base during Colombia's strike. UNAM responded with denunciations of Uribe's words and protests on campus.
The fight escalated this week when the Colombian ambassador to Mexico, Luis Camilo Osorio, wrote a letter to the UNAM rector, Jose Narro, suggesting that instead of criticizing Uribe he should criticize the slain students. Seriously. La Jornada writes:
It should be recalled that Osorio has been investigated by a committee of the House of Representatives of his country for links with paramilitary groups that have caused thousands of deaths and disappearances in Colombian territory. A few months ago the Mexican legistalor Rosario Ibarra introduced a point of agreement in the Senate to reject the diplomat for that reason.
OK, so clearly Osorio is an unhinged reactionary. But still. Where's the Mexican government in all of this? Mexican president and fellow conservative Felipe Calderon initially protested, feebly, Uribe's remarks. Not enough for the families of the Mexican victims, who say the PAN government has hardly been on their side.
And whatever happened to Lucia Morett, the mysterious UNAM student who survived the attack? On Tuesday she was pictured in La Jornada, raising a fist alongside President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, at a Sandinista event in Managua.
This is a view inside metro San Lazaro at the San Lazaro transit hub on the eastside of Mexico City. Taken Sunday. Doesn't it look like a set piece from "Total Recall"? That lanky figure with the red sweater you see down on the right is fashion designer Marvin of Marvin & Quetzal. Click on the photo for a larger view.
* UPDATE: Video from their show at TheCityLovesYou and at Couturtour.
* Off topic: Is D.F. scene fatigue setting in? There's just too much going on. After Fashion Week, MACO opens tonight. And there's a major opening at the Jumex Collection, "Brave New Worlds," over the weekend. Jeppe is DJing Thursday at Pasaje America. Ollin Kan started. And there's some free concert at the Zocalo. And ...
* Saludos, siempre, desde Chilangolandia.
A reminder to readers of Intersections that I have been posting regularly over at LA Daily, at LA Weekly.com, in my "Letter from Mexico City." Here's some new stuff.
First, check out my second wrap-up of Fashion Week Mexico at "Fashion Week, Take 2: Marvin & Quetzal line dazzles." Then read about the new street-level civil disobiendence movement against the "privatization" of the state oil company Pemex at "AMLO and the battle over Mexico's oil." An excerpt:
AMLO and his well-organized, women-led "brigades" have taken over -- again -- some streets in the Centro Historico, this time targeting the Senate, where Calderon's reform package is being considered. "They're afraid of us, because we are not afraid," they sing, while promising widespread civil disobedience.
But, to put it bluntly, the whole controversy is confusing as hell.
Also, I have a new report on the infamous Kristoff, who spoke to MTV about the wave of emo-bashings that swept across Mexico in March. (He says the attacks aren't his fault.) And finally, I submit myself to a taste test of the new Pepsi Retro soft drink. The verdict? Don't pack up your bottles of retro Coca-Cola just yet.
* Picuted above, Marvin & Quetzal, backstage at Fashion Week.
In a historic first, twin boxers from L.A. are hoping to fight at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing for opposing countries. And guess which ones? One, Javier Molina, will fight for the U.S. The other, Oscar Molina, the older twin by 2 minutes, hopes to fight for el tricolor of Mexico.
The 18-year-old U.S.-born brothers are promising amateur boxers. Sons of a Mexican immigrant boxer from the border state of Chihuahua, they train in Commerce, Calif., in Southeast L.A. County. The Molina family has vowed Oscar and Javier will never face off against each other in the ring, and now they may make Olympic history as the first set of twins to compete for different countries at the same Games, at different weight divisions.
After reading their story, wonderfully reported by Alan Abrahamson, I came away stirred by a complex mix of emotions, about brotherhood, immigration, and the graying boundaries of national identity. From Abrahamson's piece:
They train in one of the boxing world’s best-kept secrets, a clean, well-lighted gym that's tucked in behind a city library at the Bristow Park community center. Roberto Luna, who was once a member of an airborne unit in the U.S. Army and who stresses dignity, courtesy and sportsmanship, oversees the center.
At Luna’s gym, everyone greets everyone else with a handshake. Both Molina twins, with about a semester to go in high school, have proven excellent students.
"People have a misconception about what a boxer should be like," Luna said. "When you get a young kid and he understands discipline and respect, he can go a long way. The sport doesn't begin in the ring; the sport begins outside the ring. It starts with discipline and showing respect to everyone around you and being humble and learning."
The L.A. Times caught up with the twins in March. Kevin Baxter notes:
Five of the 11 boxers on Mexico's 2008 Olympic team -- including 19-year-old Javier Torres, who is also coached by Luna -- live permanently in the U.S. And it was another Mexican Olympian who trained at Commerce, Francisco "Panchito" Bojado, who first inspired the Molinas' Olympic dreams.
More here. As the son of a boxing trainer myself, I'll definitely be rooting for these guys this summmer, no matter what flag they fight under. * Photo via Machochip.
In full swing, Fashion Week Mexico on Thursday featured a break-out show by young Mexican designers Te Amo, above. Read more about FWM at my latest post at LA Daily, where we take a look at the "Porfiriato"-inspired collection of Paola Hernandez. Today we also took in a show by Sophie Massun & Isabel Manhes.
* More updates over the weekend, and commentary and analysis at a later date. Good Internet coverage also on current postings at Diaro de Fiestas and at Facehunter, in town for the fair.
** A weather note: It's almost 8 p.m. local time, sundown, and it's been raining for about two hours. It also sprinkled some yesterday, and has been intermittently for about two weeks now. Rainy season normally begins in June. Is climate change already messing with the weather patterns in the Valley of Mexico? Even the doggies want to know.
* Back at Fashion Week, the buzz for the final day is what to expect from the new collection by Marvin & Quetzal and by Mexico moda mainstays Julia & Renata.
* Once again, in my latest Letter from Mexico: "Fashion Week, Take 1: Paola Hernandez dolls it up."
This is a view going east on Sunset Boulevard to its main strip in Echo Park. On a curve, that billboard is prime advertising real estate, and apparently no better place to have a PSA about crystal meth right about now.
So among the many revelations during my few-days return to L.A, I was reminded how 'big' crystal meth remains in the States. Also in right now: cupcakes, cute, decadent, not-too-pricey cupcakes, in kill-me cute cupcake shops; tacotrucks with LED light displays in Koreatown; and nu-rave-inspired art at the Chinatown galleries (lots of crass neon at work right now at High Energy Constructs and Daniel Hug).
And, at parties, lots of black. Lots and lots of black.
Fashion Week Mexico starts April 14, featuring Marvin & Quetzal, Paola Hernandez, Ricardo Seco, Te Amo, Julia & Renata and many others. Then there's MACO. And besides all the new clothes and new art, there's all the new parties.
* Photo above, from designer Carlos T.E.M.O.R.E.S.
With the emo situation calming down a bit, I took a chance to sneak away from Mexico City for a week. Saw family in Tijuana/San Diego yesterday, and now I'm here in sparkling Los Angeles for a few days, enjoying spring, running errands, and reenergizing with the native L.A. visual artist, art writer, and witch-muse Kathryn Garcia. * Updates later.
What is Chicano art? The question gets to one of the defining tensions in the modern Mexican American experience -- to live with the static struggle of dual cultural identities in the context of a wildly flattening, globalizing, media saturated world. The exhibit "Phantom Sightings," which opens at LACMA on Monday, may offer some new and challenging answers. It is a survey of art produced mostly by Mexican Americans in a variety of media after the peak of the Chicano Movement, generally seen as the late 1960s through the early 1970s, to today.
The show may be the most anticipated art exhibit in Los Angeles museums this year. And the impact may be lasting. "Phantom Sightings" is scheduled to travel to other U.S. cities as well as here to Mexico City, where modern "Chicanos" remain mostly a foreign entity to the local cultural intelligentsia. Yet there is clearly more to the show than the rehashing of unresolved identity politics. There is a very apparent thematic undercurrent being communicated, dealing with temporality, the refraction caused by multiple media perspectives, a sort of active marginalization.
Two media previews for "Phantom Sightings" currently in circulation: Agustin Gurza in the L.A. Times and Adolfo Guzman-Lopez at KPCC. Also, early blog buzz from Pachucoville, Marshall Astor, and Ken Burns Hates Mexicans.
In his piece, Gurza writes:
Contemporary Chicano artists are working in a social environment vastly different from the days of the Chicano movement. In Los Angeles, to begin with, the Latino population has boomed, putting demographic pressure on cultural institutions to respond. Recurrent waves of immigrants constantly revive the issues of marginalization and social acceptance, even as the offspring of previous generations progress up the social ladder, taking leadership roles as politicians, academics and curators, which were practically nonexistent 30 years ago.
"Phantom Sightings" is curated by Rita Gonzalez, Howard Fox, and Chon Noriega. Here again is my LA Weekly piece "The Art Outlaws of East L.A.," which previewed the show last June and discusses the history and legacy of Asco, the collective now considered the foundational spark for "post-Chicano Movement" art.
Other online sources and related browsing: Ruben Ortiz-Torres, Harry Gamboa Jr., Mario Ybarra Jr., Sandra de la Loza, Sickly Season.
There are many posts in Intersections that are related to the art, artists, and themes dealt with in "Phantom Sightings." Here is a sampling: On Asco, on Shizu Saldamando, on the Pocho Research Society, on LACMA's locura, on L.A. as the new brown capital, on binationality 1, on binationality 2, on the romance of cholos, on the murals of Estrada Courts, on Vincent Valdez, on the Night Stalker, on historic L.A. gang glyphs, on freestyle, on art from Tijuana, and on Arte No Es Vida, a show recently mounted at the Museo del Barrio in New York City.
* Image above, a drawing from a series by Tijuana-born Julio Cesar Morales that depict actual immigrant smuggling methods. That's a modified automobile dashboard.
* 'I heart my emo boyfriend': T-shirt on display in a botique in Mexico City.
In recent days, international radio has jumped on the emo-bashing story. Mexico City-based journalists Ioan Grillo broke down the story on NPR's Bryant Park Project and Deborah Bonello reported in at BBC Radio. So far I've done radio in Austria, with Radio Wammo in New Zealand, and late in the Wednesday hour of PRI's Fair Game with Faith Salie. Listen at those links.
* Also, a reader recently asked if, after translating Kristoff's anti-emo tirade, I could do the same for his response to the initial emo attacks in Queretaro. Working on that, in the meantime, here is that response. (He basically says, 'If you're such a bad-ass to go and beat up some emos, why don't you try the same sh*t with the Mara Salvatruchas motherf*ckers!')
* Comments are free. Updates later.
Recent Comments