Paola Gonzalez

México Kitsch is an uninhibited celebration of the Mexican taste for kitsch, in which every holiday and every rite of passage from birth to death provides the opportunity to indulge. The Mexican photographer Paola González (born 1974) has documented this phenomenon in shops, markets, homes and even cemeteries across the country. Among the kitsch gems she portrays: a seemingly inexhaustible supply of cake toppers for quinceañera celebrations; figurines made of seashells; Virgin of Guadalupe light fixtures; live chicks dyed with fluorescent pigments; lucha libre action figures; and a planter in the shape of a Chihuahua wearing a dress and riding a scooter. With its spangly gold cloth spine and full-color photos, the production of this volume lives up to its subject matter. Inserted throughout are quotes on the nature of kitsch by Mexican writers and critics, printed in rose-colored ink on pink paper.