Virgen de Guadalupe project
Posted on June 26, 2009
Pilgrims from Chalma, a town near Mexico City, march back with their Virgin de Guadalupe to place her back in their town’s church.
So a while back I started a project on the Virgen de Guadalupe . . . she is an apparition of the Virgin Mary that appeared on Tepeyac Hill in Mexico City shortly after the Spanish ‘conquest’ of Mexico. Her brown skin and eyes and her duality (she appeared on the same hill where Tenotzin was worshiped) has given her an interesting duality and as Mexicans have spread around the world so has she.
Im adding some photos that I’ve gathered while working on this project below with descriptions:
Here she appears on a $5 phone card in Austin, Texas
A girl carries a Virgen de Guadalupe purse, representing her heritage rather than faith, in Austin, Texas.
A man wears a cut off t-shirt with her image in a bar in Austin, Texas.
A Virgen de Guadalupe statue, used for tourist photos at the Basilica de Guadalupe in Mexico City, Mexico, is put in storage during swine flu in April 2009.
A pilgrim from Chalma, outsdie of Mexico City, shows off his hat, with an airbrushed Virgin of Guadalupe on it on his way home.
A printer in El Centro has place a Virgen de Guadalupe alongside photos of naked women that he collects.
A young girl sells images of the Virgin of Guadalupe at the Insurgentes metro station in Mexico City.
The virgen sits outside a parking lot in Tlalpan, Mexico City.
The Virgen of Guadalupe decorates a trendy store in Condesa, Mexico City.
El Bulico (the rooster as he is known in town) shows off his bike decorated with decals of the Virgen of Guadalupe and anything else he's found while working in the states from the past thirty years.
The sweatshirt featuring the Virgen of Guadalupe is from a clothing line based in Japan where a lowrider culture and appreciation for Chicano art has thrived for the past twenty years.
To the right of the traditional Virgin Mary image is an image of the Virgen of Guadalupe in Miami, Arizona.
The Virgen of Guadalupe decorates a toolbox at a production studio in Monterrey, Mexico.
A Virgen de Guadalupe in a bakery in Morelia, Mexico has money and a small toy gun at her feet.
The Virgen of Guadalupe chalk painted onto a wall in a wash in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.
A man waiting for deported family displays a Virgen de Guadalupe prayer card, wrinkled from being inside of his wallet, at the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Nogales, Sonora
A diabetic patient is seen in the mirror next to her decorated Virgen of Guadalupe before leaving for dialysis in Phoenix, Ariz.
Her image decorates blankets on sale for tourists in Tijuana, Mexico.
A virgin decorates a store in Tijuana, Mexico.
A virgin in a bottle sits for sale outside a church in Tijuana, Mexico.
A Virgen of Guadalupe blanket sits in the back of a dollar store owned by a Chinese family in Washington D.C.
A Virgen of Guadalupe painting sits for sale inside a gallery in Washington D.C.
Vladimir Cuevas, a San Fransisco artist sits in his studio with over fifteen paintings of her image. Those pictured with him will be placed in a church built for the Virgen de Guadalupe in Manila, Philippines
A Virgen de Guadalupe made in Vietnam hangs in the home of Anita Madrigal, who collects her image, in Woodland, California.
My friend Natalia shared this picture form when she was a teenager and snorkeling in Acapulco, Mexico on a family vacation.
This isn’t all of the content but it’s a start and a lame reason as to why I haven’t been posting anywhere near as regularly. Since reporting is wrapping up this weekend for me, one interview in L.A. and another in Gila Bend, Ariz. I’m excited to start wrapping up this project and preparing for Florida, only five weeks away.
Dominoes!
Posted on June 12, 2009
Dominoes, a game played religiously almost in Venezuela, Cuba, and other Caribean countries. It seems simple, but can go on for a long, long time. Here are a few outtakes from a Venezuelan barbeque in San Diego. I had to shoot at 3200 so hopefully the colors don’t look like total crap, since i’ve noticed wordpress seems to get funky when posting high ISO pics
Tijuana
Posted on June 8, 2009
First visit, or at least real time spent in Tijuana rather than commuting to and from the airport. I don’t know what to make of the city. We went from a starbucks in the Rio zona to the “wall” that comprises the U.S.-Mexico border along the beach and ended up at a boxing match framed by the entrance arc to Revolucion (The main tourist drag).
I think border towns are interesting, unique places unto themselves which could not be categorized as being 100% one country or another. What I hate about them is the desperation and need that comes with a country of immense need sharing a border with a country that has little need, only wants.
Here are a couple of pics that I liked, but I’ll add more later.
Deanna Dent 