- unitid
-
{"value"=>"186320", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"Sc Photo Portfolio Contemporary Afro-Mexican Photography", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b23305202", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"2010-2021", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"2010/2021"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Contemporary Afro-Mexican Photography collection"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"7 boxes, 1 folder", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"1.32 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"The Contemporary Afro-Mexican Photography collection, dated 2015 to 2021, represents the work of photographers and activists Hugo Arellanes, Toumani Cámara, Koral Carballo, Héctor Careaga, and Dolores Medel, who identify as <em>afrodescendientes</em>, Afro-Mexican, or Mexican. Their photographs focus on their own communities and identities, and illustrate Afro-Mexican customs, traditions, environment, and challenges of life in Mexico."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"Multiple languages"}
{"value"=>"Captions on photographs are in Spanish and English."}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Afro-Mexican identity refers to people living in Mexico who identify as having Sub-Saharan African heritage. Afro-Mexicans (also known as Black Mexicans), were not recognized in the national census of Mexico until 2015, after these communities petitioned the government for representation. It is estimated that approximately two to three percent of the population of Mexico identify as Afro-Mexican. While Afro-Mexicans live throughout the country, extensive communities are located in Costa Chica of Guerrero, Costa Chica of Oaxaca, and the state of Veracruz, Mexico.</p> <p>Hugo Arellanes, Toumani Cámara, Hector Careaga, Koral Carballo, and Dolores Medel's photographs are represented in the collection.</p> <p>Hugo Arellanes (Antonio), born in San Juan Bautista Lo de Soto, State of Oaxaca, is a photographer and activist based in Mexico who developed an interest in photography after participating in a photography workshop. Arellanes' photographic works have been exhibited in museums and galleries including the Museum Amparo in Puebla, Mexico in 2018 and 2019. Arellanes' photographs depict daily life in his community of Costa Chica, rather than the community as an object of studies, which had previously been documented by visiting anthropologists, photographers, and filmmakers.</p> <p>Arellanes has photographed those outside forces that impact Afro-Mexicans as seen in the <span class=\"title\">Despedimientos</span> (Dismissal) series. This group of images show the devastating impact of climate change on the community. Arellanes has also addressed the worldwide impact of the Black Lives Matter Movement in his work through a self-portrait with the words Black Lives Matter painted across his back.</p> <p>Arellanes is the coordinator of Huella Negra (Black Footprints), an organization that seeks to make visible the Afro-Mexican population. The word <em>huella</em> can also be translated as \"legacy\" or \"trace.\" Arellanes made a call through social media to those who consider themselves Black, Afro-descendant, or Afro-Mexican, which resulted in a calendar showing these individuals at their workplaces to combat stereotypes and prejudices. Arellanes has collaborated with his colleague Koral Carballo to host workshops and to advise Afro-Mexicans on how to care for and preserve their family albums.</p> <p>Toumani Cámara (1990-) is a photographer and graphic designer. Born in Mexico City to African immigrants, he studied fine arts at the Massana School Center of Art and Design in Barcelona, Spain (2016-2017), earned a university degree from Université Toulouse in 2016, and a diploma from the Academia de Artes Visuales in Mexico City, Mexico. Currently based in Mexico City, Cámara's work reflects on self, family, and the lives of Black people in Mexico. Cámara's series <span class=\"title\">Soy de donde vengo y lo que he vivido</span> (I am where I come from I am where I live) examines his father's experience living as an African immigrant in Mexico.</p> <p>Koral Carballo (1987-) born in Poza Rica, Veracruz, is a documentary photographer, photojournalist, and visual artist. Her education has included studies in journalism at the Universidad Popular Aútonoma del Estado de Puebla, and studies in photography at Centro de las Artes de San Agustín (CaSA) and the Centro de la Imagen in Mexico City. Her photography intersects with work in oral history, and addresses themes related to Afro-Mexican identity and historical memory. In 2014, with a group of local photojournalists in Veracruz, she co-founded the Mirar Distinto Festival of Journalistic and Documentary Photography.</p> <p>Héctor Careaga is an emerging artist and activist, and a member of Colectivo Afro Tamiahua A.C. (Afro Tamiahua Collective, AC). This organization is dedicated to the visibility of Afro-descendants in Tamiahua, Veracruz, and seeks to nurture Afro-Mexican cultural practices.</p> <p>Dolores Medel (1983-) is a Mexican photographer whose photographic works examine stories of family, nature, and human emotions. Medel is interested in issues of identity, history, migration, and Latin American culture. Medel is internationally recognized and her work has been published in media that includes <span class=\"title\">Ojodepez Magazine</span>, <span class=\"title\">GUP Magazine</span>, <span class=\"title\">Fisheye France</span>, <span class=\"title\">Tierra Adentro</span>, <span class=\"title\">Magazine of the University of Mexico</span>, and <span class=\"title\"> Afropunk</span>. Medel has also exhibited her work in Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia, Cuba, Chile, Guatemala, Italy, Spain, Ecuador, the United States, and Russia.</p> <p>In 2023, Medel was a recipient of the <span class=\"title\">Women Photography Grants</span>, for her photographs of Afro-Mexican communities in Veracruz, Mexico. This project investigated the roles and lives of often erased Black Mexican women throughout history. Medel works as a freelance photographer in different projects, is a teacher at the Universidad Veracruzana, and is a member of <span class=\"title\">The Everyday Projects</span> and <span class=\"title\">Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte</span>, since 2020.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Contemporary Afro-Mexican Photography collection, dated 2010 to 2021, represents the photographic works of five photographers, Hugo Arellanes, Toumani Cámara, Héctor Careaga, Koral Carballo, and Dolores Medel. Their photographs document the Afro-Mexican community living in Mexico, the heritage and traditions passed down through the generations, the challenges of today's environment, and themselves.</p> <p>Hugo Arellanes' photographs touch upon several themes that are impactful to the Afro-Mexican community who mostly live in the coastal communities of Mexico. The collection holds two large groups of Arellanes photographs: <span class=\"title\">Despedimientos</span> (Farewells) series, and <span class=\"title\">El Polvito En Tus Zapatos</span> (The Little Dust on Your Shoes) series.\"</p> <p>The <span class=\"title\">Despedimientos</span> is an exploration of the impact of climate change on the Costa Chica community. Arellanes describes these works as an attempt to reconcile the impending doom with blissful ignorance of those community members who are uninformed about the climate crisis. The images are untitled and feature photographic subjects that show the impact of drought, birds in flight, and a girl braiding her hair. The other group <span class=\"title\">El Polvito En Tus Zapatos</span> depict objects. Arellanes explores these objects that have different uses in his community of Costa Chica. These objects known as \"el polvito en tus zapatos\" tell the story of people, how the community lives, and their customs. The rest of Arellanes' works are self-portraits, including one in which Arellanes wrote \"Black Lives Matter\" across his back.</p> <p>Toumani Cámara's photographs mostly examine his Mexican and African identities. There are several photographs that reflect how Cámara sees and questions his identity, including images depicting his father (although he is not identified as such in the photographs, Cámara has confirmed his identity). As with the other photographers, Cámara illustrates the events impacting Mexico with a photograph from the series <span class=\"title\">La invasion de los invadidos</span>, where Cámara traveled to the United States Border with a reporter to explore the migrant crisis of Black refugees.</p> <p>Koral Carballo's photographs are in two series, <span class=\"title\">El misterio del disfrazado</span> (The Mystery of the Disguised) and <span class=\"title\">Siempre estuvimos aquí</span> (We Were Always Here).</p> <p>The <span class=\"title\">Misterio del disfrazado</span> series reflects Carballo's exploration into her family's African heritage in the 2010s. This series emerged from her time spent in Coyolillo, where she developed a meaningful relationship with an Afro-Mexican family that specializes in creating masks for Carnival performances. This celebration dates back to when enslaved Africans were brought by Spanish colonizers to work on sugar cane plantations. Carnival first started when enslaved people were given a single day off and they wore masks to disguise their identities. The photographs include several images of individuals dressed in preparation for Carnival.</p> <p>The <span class=\"title\">Siempre estuvimos aquí</span> series depicts both Koral Carballo and Hugo Arellanes facilitating community-based workshops to teach Afro-Mexican communities how to preserve their personal photographs. The photographs entitled \"Album Exhibition, Chacahua, Mexico,\" and \"Album Exhibition, Coyolillo, Mexico,\" both show family pictures of the community members including one from the Family Archives Exhibition in 2021. The photograph \"Lucha\" is part of Chapter III \"The Afromexican Path.\" Carballo's photographs aim to analyze the Afro-descendant route from a historical reinterpretation.</p> <p>Dolores Medel's photographs comprise two series, <span class=\"title\">En fuga interminable</span> (Endless), and <span class=\"title\">La sangre es un mar immenso</span> (The Blood Is An Immense Sea).</p> <p><span class=\"title\">En fuga interminable</span> reflects on the history of transatlantic travel from the colonization of America by the Europeans, a fear of the sea, the history of the Veracruz slave trade, and modern day environmental issues. Medel's photographs include a cargo ship burning in the water offshore, churning waters, and close-up portraits of the people who live in the area. The next series <span class=\"title\">La sangre es un mar immenso</span> was generated by a team of researchers investigating the Afro-Mexican community in Cuitlahuac, Veracruz.</p>"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>Alphabetical by surname of photographer.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>The selection and acquisition process for the collection was led by two curators at The New York Public Library: the Curator of Photographs and Prints at the Schomburg Center, and NYPL's Curator for Latin American, Iberian and Latino Studies Collections. In 2023, the curators visited the photographers in Mexico and selected works for acquisition. The collection was purchased later that year from Howard Karno Books, Inc., who served as an intermediary for the photographers.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>See the Schomburg Center's Manuscripts and Archives Division, and Art and Artifacts Division, for related materials from the same acquisition.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>The collection was processed by <span class=\"name\">Valerie Wingfield</span> in <span class=\"date\">2024</span>.</p>"}
- revisiondesc
-
{"value"=>"Finding aid updated by Jack Patterson", "date"=>"2024-06-29"}
- date_start
-
2010
- keydate
-
2010
- date_end
-
2021
- date_inclusive_start
-
2010
- date_inclusive_end
-
2021
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Contemporary Afro-Mexican Photography collection, Photographs and Prints Division. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library"}