Multi-hued Mexico

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There’s much more to the country than what is portrayed by Hollywood.

DID you know that fireworks in Mexico could have come from China even before the Spanish conquest of 1519?

Mexican ambassador Jorge Alberto Lozoya welcomes visitors to his country.

This fact is highlighted not so much in books (such as Gavin Menzies’ 1421, which suggests that Chinese fleets had sailed to the Americas and exchanged trade goods and craft ideas long before Christopher Columbus), but in the photo exhibition, Mexico Land of Colours, currently showing in Petaling Jaya.

First, we see the splendid natural wonders of the country. One shot highlights how Mexico is blessed with splendid sparkling seas on both its coasts, in the west (the Pacific) and east (the Gulf of Mexico and Carribean).

Our perception of the country, shaped by Hollywood movies, may be one of dusty, cactus-filled deserts. But this exhibition points out that Mexico has 159 natural protected areas, among them several stunning marine parks where manta rays have been seen (and captured photographically) to fly above water!

“We would like to welcome more Malaysians to visit our country,” says Jorge Alberto Lozoya, the Ambassador of Mexico to Malaysia, during the launch of the display on Tuesday.

“People think that Los Angeles is near but feel Mexico is so far away. But they are about the same distance from Malaysia! Mexico has something for everyone, from diverse landscapes to vast cultural heritage.”

The exhibition features the Popocatepetl volcano, a proud symbol of the country lying south-east of Mexico City. According to the Unesco (UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation) World Heritage website (whc.unesco.org), there are 14 monasteries on the volcano’s slopes, all in an excellent state of conservation. These buildings are good examples of the architectural style adopted by the 16th century missionaries – Franciscans, Dominicans, and Augustinians.

Photographer Ricardo Espinosa has used a telephoto lens to “compress” the distance, so that it seems the volcano looms just behind one of the monasteries.

Spanish heritage plays a significant role in Mexico’s national identity, as evident in this photograph of a church. – Photos from Mexico Land of Colours.

Espinosa, born in Mexico City in 1958, studied graphic design at its Metropolitan University, and has worked in photography for over 25 years. He has been professor of photography at the Iberoamericanan University since 1985.

He has his own photo studio that handles corporate and commercial photography and his work has been shown in numerous exhibitions in his home country.

Another strong element of the exhibition is how much Spanish architecture has left its mark on Mexico, whether in the form of soaring church edifices or intimate interiors with kneeling devotees.

Some 4,000 years ago, there were complex civilisations living in cities known for their writing, monumental architecture, astronomical studies, mathematics, and ornate stone carvings.

This culminated with the Aztec Empire in the 15th century. By 1519, the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan (the site of modern-day Mexico City), was believed to be one of the world’s largest cities then, with a population of more than 200,000 (though some historians claim the figure went as high as 500,000). By comparison, the population of London then was only 80,000.

However, all this ended with the arrival of the Spaniards in 1519. For three centuries, Mexico was colonised by Spain, which stamped its culture, language and religion on the country.

There is a contemporary revival of Aztec pride in Mexico.

The country gained independence from Spain in 1821, but it took much longer to rediscover its ancient native heritage. This has been an on-going process and, last year, the Mayor of Mexico City, Marcelo Ebrard, announced that he wanted all city employees to learn the Aztec language Nahuatl (which is spoken by only about 1% of Mexicans now).

Espinosa’s photos of Aztec costumes in modern-day Mexico, are a visual symbol of that revival. With such a colourful culture, it is not surprising that Mexico is supposed No. 8 in the world in terms of international visitors.

“One million people per day cross in and out of our border with the United States for business and tourism,” adds Lozoya. “That makes 365 million per year!” Apart from tourists, he also wants to attract Malaysian businessmen to his country.

“Mexico plans to invest around US$300bil (RM1,050bil) for new airports, seaports, highways and we are inviting Malaysian corporations to join us in building all this.

“We hope to have a major Malaysian hotel in Mexico soon. I admire your hotels not only for their architecture, but their management as well.”

As we made to leave the exhibition hall, we came to another intriguing similarity between Mexican and Asian cultures – reverence for the dead.

While in traditional Chinese culture, there are cemetery rituals during the Ching Ming (All Souls Day) festival, in Mexico, there is the Día de Los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, which has been captured visually in the exhibition.

The festival was originally celebrated in the ninth month of the Aztec calendar, and was dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl, or the “Lady of the Dead”.

In Mexico, this festival has become intertwined with All Souls Day, which is observed by the Catholics, thus showing how Spanish culture has merged with indigenous traditions.

On the Day of the Dead, people go to cemeteries to build private altars on which are placed the deceased’s favourite foods, as well as photos and memorabilia, in the belief that their souls will “visit” the living.

Now, doesn’t that sound like what Malaysians do on Ching Ming?

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