Edited by Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, Ramón Reverté. Foreword by Brenda Navarro.
A pocket-size collective portrayal of Mexican women in found photographs, from the era of the daguerreotype to the 1960s
This pocket-size volume presents an entrancing selection of studio and vernacular photographs of Mexican women from the mid-19th century to the 1960s. Through the careful editing of photographer Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, the sequence of images coalesces into a narrative of women’s empowerment. As photographic technology advances in the book—transitioning from daguerreotypes to color film—so too do the rights of the women pictured, who become increasingly mobile, expressive and exposed. Yet, regardless of the era they belong to, all of the women appear intensely alive, emboldened by their position before the camera. Las Mexicanas underscores the intimate and powerful relationship between the photographic medium, women and those who were fortunate to have a camera in their hands. Many of the images in this edition originate from a private collection, accumulated over a decade of visits to the flea markets of Mexico City, with the assistance of connoisseurs and support from booksellers and merchants. This particularity gives the volume a unique value, attracting an audience interested not only in antique photography and collectibles, but also in social sciences, feminism and cultural representations. Contextualizing these captivating images is an essay by author, sociologist and economist Brenda Navarro, author of the award-winning novels Empty Houses and Ash in the Mouth. A work that transcends time and space, Las Mexicanas celebrates the strength and diversity of Mexican women across generations, and serves as an essential item for those seeking to appreciate the richness of Mexico’s history and culture.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Huck
Miss Rosen
Offers a revelatory look at Mexican women as they imagined themselves: proud, powerful, sensual, complex, creative, playful, mysterious, and above all: not to be trifled with. In the hands of the many, vernacular photography became the lingua franca of collective identity, as it recorded both milestones and mundane moments alike mapped out over a lifetime.
Aperture
Mary Frey
'Las Mexicanas' is a feat of curation—a photobook uniting otherwise disparate intimate family portraits and candid photographs to create a visual dialogue across social strata and historical time, asserting these women’s hard-won protagonism throughout their country’s history.
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Tuesday, January 16–Monday, January 22, please join Artbook | D.A.P. in the Aesthetic Movement Showroom at the Atlanta Gift Market to view a curated selection of new books on art and culture for Winter and Spring 2024! continue to blog
Featured spreads are from new release Las Mexicanas, RM’s small but mighty paperback album of found photographs of Mexican women in positions of power, play and perhaps even seduction from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1960s. How we love it! Essayist Brenda Navarro writes, “What is Mexico without the women who have been born in this land? What would be of this country without many of them, who have birthed the Manichaean concept of a nation that has been obliged to live beneath the heavens, in which every person seems to be destined to be a soldier? As Agota Kristof wrote in her novel, The Notebook (1987), women are the ones who carry the weight of wars: ‘Have we seen nothing? Idiot! We women have all the work and all the worries: children to feed, wounded to tend… You men, once the war is over, are all heroes. The dead: heroes. The survivors: heroes. The maimed: heroes. That’s why you invented war. It’s your war. You wanted it, so get on with it—heroes my ass!’” continue to blog
FORMAT: Pbk, 5.25 x 7.5 in. / 128 pgs / 13 color / 2 duotone / 120 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $25.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $37.5 GBP £25.00 ISBN: 9788419233363 PUBLISHER: RM AVAILABLE: 4/9/2024 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA UK incl IE
Published by RM. Edited by Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, Ramón Reverté. Foreword by Brenda Navarro.
A pocket-size collective portrayal of Mexican women in found photographs, from the era of the daguerreotype to the 1960s
This pocket-size volume presents an entrancing selection of studio and vernacular photographs of Mexican women from the mid-19th century to the 1960s. Through the careful editing of photographer Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, the sequence of images coalesces into a narrative of women’s empowerment. As photographic technology advances in the book—transitioning from daguerreotypes to color film—so too do the rights of the women pictured, who become increasingly mobile, expressive and exposed. Yet, regardless of the era they belong to, all of the women appear intensely alive, emboldened by their position before the camera.
Las Mexicanas underscores the intimate and powerful relationship between the photographic medium, women and those who were fortunate to have a camera in their hands. Many of the images in this edition originate from a private collection, accumulated over a decade of visits to the flea markets of Mexico City, with the assistance of connoisseurs and support from booksellers and merchants. This particularity gives the volume a unique value, attracting an audience interested not only in antique photography and collectibles, but also in social sciences, feminism and cultural representations. Contextualizing these captivating images is an essay by author, sociologist and economist Brenda Navarro, author of the award-winning novels Empty Houses and Ash in the Mouth. A work that transcends time and space, Las Mexicanas celebrates the strength and diversity of Mexican women across generations, and serves as an essential item for those seeking to appreciate the richness of Mexico’s history and culture.
