MIAMI, FLA.- The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum FIU celebrates the art of Mexican photography this summer with two exhibitions: Becoming Mexico: The Photographs of Manuel Carrillo and Possible Worlds: Photography and Fiction in Mexican Contemporary Art.

The opening reception is free, open to the public on Saturday, July 8, 4:00 - 7:00 p.m.

With Becoming Mexico, the museum traces the deep roots of the genre with the striking photojournalistic work that captured the country’s national identity featuring more than thirty of Manuel Carrillo’s gelatin silver prints. Carrillo’s photographs serve as a celebration of the human spirit. These photographs are part of the museum’s permanent collection. This exhibition was curated by the museum’s Curator, Klaudio Rodriguez.

In Possible Worlds, works of imagination and fantasy by Mexican contemporary artists serve as a counterpoint featuring more than 40 artworks by nine contemporary Mexican photographers including Mauricio Alejo, Ricardo Alzati, Katya Braylovsky, Alex Dorfsman, Daniela Edburg, Ruben Gutierrez, Kenia Narez, Fernando Montiel and Damian Siqueiros.

“We are delighted to present these two exhibitions that pinpoint very different periods in Mexico’s history of photography,” said the Director of the Frost Art Museum FIU, Dr. Jordana Pomeroy. “It is fascinating to see how photography can not only document but actually define and shape the identity of a country. Through his camera, Manuel Carrillo captured the rapidly changing character of his country, from a rural to an industrialized nation. Fast forward, more than half century later, and we see how contemporary artists in Mexico are using the medium from an entirely different perspective by illustrating worlds of possibilities.”

“Mexican art has an historical significance, deeply rooted in our past but at the same time looking at the future,” said Horacio Saavedra, the Consul General of Mexico in Miami. “Images of our past are reinvented and give us new meanings. With exhibitions like Possible Worlds, the people from South Florida can see the creativity and talent of a new generation of Mexican artists, successful most of them beyond our borders. The biggest challenge is to conquer the impossible and present it in a different way. And Mexican artists, as well as other Latin American creators, understand that the world has no limits. Mexico reinvents itself in Miami and continues to look for connections and international bridges, such as the one that gives us art and photography,” added Saavedra.

Manuel Carrillo (1906-1989) began his quest in 1955 to capture indigenous Mexico with his camera, portraying his country and its people as it truly was without any colonial or outside influences. Carrillo firmly believed in Mexicanidad, a cultural movement during the 1920s led by influential writers, photographers and artists following Mexico’s Revolution. Carillo’s street photography documented the everyday life, local rituals and practices of campesinos (peasants and farmers), indios (first nation peoples), and mestizo men, women and children in Mexico. For the artist and his subjects, Carrillo’s photographs forged a national identity. He photographed during an era when peasants wore traditional dress, men wore huarache sandals and women wore their rebozo shawl. His subjects are proud, strong and optimistic ̶ but his photographs also reflect the despair of impoverished rural communities.

In contrast, Possible Worlds: Photography and Fiction in Mexican Contemporary Art presents the work of today’s artists in Mexico and the influence that film, literature, fantasy and electronic music all have on their contemporary work. A clear break from 20th century Mexican photojournalism, this is a new generation of artists immersed in imagination rather than documentation of the natural world. The works of these nine artists are records of their dreams, nightmares, myths and fables - fictional worlds often rooted in a desire to escape to a better world.

Possible Worlds has been organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mexican Agency for International Cooperation for Development, Mexican Cultural Institute in Miami and curated by art historian Marisol Argüelles. At the Frost Art Museum, it was coordinated by Klaudio Rodriguez (Curator), and Dr. Jordana Pomeroy (Museum Director).