Border museum hosting unique photography exhibit
Role of women in mexican history depicted in museum exhibit in San Luis r.c.
SAN LUIS RIO COLORADO, Son. – The role of women in Mexican society in the first half of the 20th Century is the subject of a photography exhibit that can be seen at the Regional Museum here through May 10.
The exhibit, titled “Desingualdad (In)visible” or “Invisible Inequality,” consists of 42 photos on loan from the Casasola Archive, a collection that serves as a photographic record of historical and political events, art and culture and everyday life in Mexico at the time of that country’s 1910 Revolution and in the following decades.
The photos on loan for display at the San Luis museum, located at Avenida Nuevo Leon and Calle 8, focuses on the evolving role of women during the years of 1911 to 1942.
“There are 42 photographs with five themes: the invisible work of women in the family, their role in the revolution, as mothers in search of sustenance to feed their families and their later foray into education and the profession, and, finally, their role in politics,” said Alma Guadalupe Talamantes Corrales, director of the city’s Culture Department.
In what is considered the precursor of modern photojournalism in Mexico, brothers Agustin and Miguel Casasola documented life and historic events in Mexico, starting in the years before the revolution and continuing through the 10-year conflict into the decades afterwards.
Other photographers of the era also contributed to photos to the collection, and succeeding generations of the Casasola family maintained the photos and preserved the original negatives.
In 1976, the Mexican government purchased the collection from the family, and the archive is now housed at that country’s National Institute of Anthropology and History.
The collection’s curators “only brought (the exhibit) here, and it is a privilege,” Talamantes said. “This is the first time that this type of exhibition can be seen here. They (normally) can only been seen in museums in Mexico City. It’s a big achievement that it has been brought here.”
She added that Vania Casasola, a granddaughter of one of the Casasola brothers, further donated six historical photos for permanent display at the San Luis Rio Colorado museum, Talamantes said.
Admission to the exhibit is free, and the museum is open from Mondays through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturdays by appointments. Guided tours in English can be arranged for those who don’t speak Spanish.
For more information, the museum can be reached at 011-52-653-53 4-3109 or 011-52-653-53 4-3985.