Listen to My Pictures – Photo Show June 24 7:30pm
Listen to My Pictures – Foto Class – Guadalajara, Mexico from Josh Meltzer on Vimeo.
Just finished putting together this video story about the kids that are in my photo class. We have our final show opening at the Museo Regional tomorrow, Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. in Guadalajara, México.
Goodbye Sally 1998-2009
Many of you have gotten to know Sally, our black labrador-German shepard friend of 12+ years. Perhaps she has licked you in your face when you came into our home or you have seen her at our side on hundreds of runs and bike rides up Mill Mountain in Roanoke.
Today, Missy and I made the very difficult decision to have her put to sleep as her physical condition has taken a turn for the worse over the past few months. While we’ve been away here in Mexico since August we have been so lucky to have her in the caring hands of our friends Donny and Katie who nursed her along with weekly baths, trips to the vet and much love.
It was impossible to imagine that when we said our good-byes in August it would be the last time we saw her. I was lucky to have seen her a couple of times over January while I was home, but it was obvious she had changed greatly. There was nothing more we could do for her from afar, and her condition required care beyond what we were willing to ask any of our friends to give her.
For a large dog we were lucky to have had her for so long but that kind of luck certainly doesn’t diminish our sadness over the past few weeks while we’ve tried to figure out what to do. It has been an especially difficult week for us as Missy lost her Grandpa George Warp earlier in the week.
When we return to Roanoke, we’ll spread her ashes along the paths that she loved to run. She will be forever missed.
Giving Back
One of my favorite things about my work here is when I bring 4×6 prints to the subjects that I’ve been working with. Since January, I’ve been documenting a community of migrants from Zacatecas, who work on the outskirts of Guadalajara making and baking bricks for construction. It is a community of about 140 families, where many kids work, and everyone lives in extreme poverty.
Yesterday, I spent most of the afternoon with the students who attend a special school provided by an NGO, and as evening arrived, I stopped by the home of a large extended family to drop off about 60 prints from my last few visits, some from a baptism that I attended a few weeks ago. Rosa started calling out for other neighbors who were in some of the prints to see, and about a half dozen other people literally came running towards our small group.
Juana, a 17-year-old whom I met the first day I visited the community with two social workers, and who at the time was nearly 9-months pregnant, ran over too, asking me if I had her prints. She was shy that first day, scared out of her mind, having never seen a doctor, and on the doorstep of her first birth. Now, she has a healthy child, and was exhilerated to see the pictures, the first she’d had of her baby. I left, as they sorted out who would own which pictures, and then as I was walking away, I heard that once shy girl yell, “Josue! Josue!”
She wondered if I could make a portrait of her, her husband and the baby all together, since he wasn’t in the initial photos. I happily obliged, made a quick photo and promised to return on Wednesday with the print for them. “And if you can’t find me,” Juana said, “You can leave the picture with my grandmother, OK?”
It takes time to build trust in the communities in which I’m working. My spanish isn’t all that good, and I’m the tall gringo with the cameras, and no one seems to understand exactly what I keep returning for. But, I’ve found that when I give back to the community something like pictures, which none of them have, it seems to open many doors to friendship, warmth and trust. It is these moments so far on this adventure that I enjoy most.
Xochimilco
Sadly, it’s already mid-year through the Fulbright, and for that the Becarios (grantees) gathered in Mexico City this past week for a mid-term reunion, to make short presentations of what we’ve been up to all these months. The work and range of projects is simply amazing, from the creative to the science and everything in between.
It was also a chance to see some friends we’d made in September when we first arrived, and to make new friends. On Saturday, 22 of us traveled the 1.5 hour ride in 5 cabs to Xochimilco, a series of canals just south of this huge city, once the flower-growing area of the District. Now it’s a place for Chilangos and guests to relax for an afternoon on the lanchas, cruising slowly in the crowded canals with a few micheladas, corn, and coconut ice cream.
James Breiner, a Knight Fellow working in Guadalajara, it seems was there the same day as us, and has some good history on his blog on Xochimilco. Missy also has some good info and anecdotes.
Morelia
Last weekend, we went off to Morelia with friends Liam and Meghan for a three-day weekend to visit the monarch butterly sanctuaries. We stayed in the capital of the state of Michoacan, in Morelia, which was a beautiful place to get away from Guadalajara. We only visited the historic center, but loved the colonial buildings, the lack of grafiti covering everything, and the amount of activity in the plazas on the weekends. I’m nearly convinced that every photo in Mexican tour books that isn’t taken at the beach or in the desert may have been taken in the center of Morelia.
It was Valentine’s weekend, so the balloon vendors were out in full force, as we were treated to a children’s dance performance.
Going Bananas
For a few months I’ve been working on and off with a Huichol family (mother Maria, pictured) from Jalisco, who comes periodically to Guadalajara with their youngest daughter, Paola, who is need of surgery to correct a condition of hydrocephalus, which is when fluid builds up in the head around the brain. Soon, she’ll have a shunt put in to drain the fluid, but in the meantime, the three of us, and a family friend, Gladys (not pictured) spend a hell of a lot of time waiting outside the Hospital Civil Viejo sifting through Mexican bureaucracy waiting for a real appointment. The other day, I bought a few bananas for us to pass the time.
Disparity
It is visually so obvious the gap of rich and poor here, almost within inches. Missy and I traveled to the well-off suburb of Zapopan, where some of Guadalajara’s nicest neighborhoods are. There we visited the wonderful Museum of Art and stumbled upon a wedding at the cathedral afterwards.
At the end of the wedding, two people moved around the perimeter of the guests, who were moving towards the bride to congratulate her. One was a 10 year old boy, selling toys, and the other an older man, selling some sweet sugar drinks. I couldn’t help notice two girls, wearing beautiful white dresses, no older than the boy selling toys, as they eyed up his wares. Here was the disparity just inches apart.
Tonight is Mexican Independence Day, and although it’s pouring rain, we’re heading on our trusty bikes (thankfully with fenders) to the city center for the celebrations tonight. Pictures to come of course.
Cooperativa, Bike Repair
Today, Missy and I went with Danielle to the Cerro de Cuatro, a hill named for the towers of Channel 4 television that sit at its top. It is one of the poorest neighborhoods and is where many of the Otomi families live. For several months, Danielle and other organizers have been working with a group of Otomi artisans who are forming a cooperative that will enable them to sell their embroidered arts internationally.
It was incredibly exciting to be a part of this group. I shot video during their meeting, where a lawyer was present to help draft up a contract. The women are dedicated and organized and this was so wonderful to see. Missy will be designing a website for them, and I’ll be working on a short video story about them, and their plans for the cooperative.
Later in the day, I decided to find a bike shop, because my saddle has been sliding downwards everytime I ride, and with long legs, the bike was nearly impossible to ride with no leg extension. I took it to a little “living room” (literally) bike shop where two guys sat around a pile of bikes, wheels and parts and fashioned a shim from a Pepsi bottle that worked like magic. How I love Mexican ingenuity. To set the scene in this “shop” we were surrounded by the following things. Metal fans on high with no guard, several kittens, some eggs, two slices of bread soaking in the Pepsi that was poured out of the bottle that was used to fix my bike, a TV, several ripped up chairs, and an assortment of bike parts lying around.
Later on the way to Spanish tutoring, I met Jaime, who is a freelance garbage collector. Today he was moving old computer monitors and chairs from a building downtown. Nice guy, hard worker. I’m going to add him to my collection of street worker photos.
This weekend is the start of a 4-day holiday in Mexico for the 16 de Septiembre independence celebration which happens on Monday night and into Tuesday. Crowds are expected to be huge downtown, and we’re looking forward to it.
Off to see a photo exhibit at a nearby museum today (Saturday).
The Intersection Juggler
I had an interesting conversation this past week while in Mexico City with my new friends Jose and David. Jose is a fellow Fulbrighter, here with his wife Naomi, and David is the boyfriend of Danielle. When Jose discovered that in addition to being an architect, David is also a photographer, he asked David what he likes to take pictures of. David responded that he usually only photographs while he is traveling, because what he sees around where he lives is so normal to him. He told Jose, that he’s enjoyed seeing the things that I choose to photograph here, many of which are new to me, but normal to him.
What I am always struck by in Mexico is the amount of activity going on in the streets. Though this is true in American cities, it seems move prevalent here.
On our way home from a visit to the CODENI nightly tutoring last week, Missy and I noticed Ernesto Hernandez Estrado, who for the past 8 years has been juggling aluminum foil-covered balls at the intersection of Miguel Blanco and Federalismo, a major intersection in the city center. Though Hernandez suffers from serious chest pains, for which he has too keep his muscles wrapped with a makeshift ace bandage, he repeats a routine of carrying a 10-foot ladder into the street when the light turns red, juggling for about a minute, hopping down, carrying the ladder back to the median and dodging traffic to collect tips. In a 3-4 hour span, he’ll make about 50 pesos ($5 USD).
I have a great interest in meeting people who make their living in the streets. There are so many. The other night on the way home from the bus station, a man was fire-breathing at 11 p.m. in front of traffic. I must find him!