In most of the world people live much of their lives outdoors, in the street. Mexico City is no different. A lot happens in the street here. Public life means not so much events for public consumption, but more life lived in the public space.
Walking through the old centro historico the first thing you see are people working. Two men break through the asphalt for a street repair project. People carry things - an anonymous bundle clutched to the chest, tacos being delivered for someone's lunch. A woman in a bright red dress balances a tray of pan dulce on her head, striding down the sidewalk past the Alameda, the legs of the folded stand she'll use to set up her stall hanging from her arm.
In the park a nanny puts a sock on the small foot of the child she cares for. A street sweeper poses with her broom. A guard stands at attention in front of a jewelry store on the Zocalo. How long can he keep it up?
Tired workers sleep in the street too. An older woman takes a nap at lunchtime, the way I did in the factory years ago, grabbing a few minutes before going back to work. Two bicycle messengers are asleep, one on a bench and another beneath it. A line of workers sits back, some nodding out, against the building they're fixing up.
Of course, not everyone is working. Two older women are deep in conversation, their walking canes planted beside them, while two younger women seem a little doubtful about the words of their companion, as he guides them past one of the street obstructions around the National Palace. Not far away, next to the cathedral, a young man puts on greasepaint in a fanciful calacas, getting ready for the next Aztec dance.
As evening starts to soften the light, a bench on the Reforma, a very public space, becomes one of temporary seclusion for two lovers - a moment together they likely can't get with family at home.
And then a final jazz riff from the sidewalk trumpeter.
PHOTO EXHIBITIONS / EXPOSICIONES DE FOTOS IN THE FIELDS OF THE NORTH/EN LOS CAMPOS DEL NORTE Photographs by David Bacon
Global Museum Fine Arts Building Room 203 San Francisco State University 1600 Holloway Avenue San Francisco, CA
October 14 - December 7, 2023 Tuesday - Thursday, 11-4 PM
Opening Reception October 14, 1-3 PM MAS QUE UN MURO / MORE THAN A WALL Photographs by David Bacon / Fotografias por David Bacon
International Meeting on Human Mobility 2023 Encuentro internacional sobre movilidad humana 2023
Museo Nacional de las Culturas del Mundo Palacio Nacional Moneda 13, Centro Histórico Centro, Cuauhtémoc 06000 Ciudad de México CDMX, Mexico
More Than a Wall / Mas que Un Muro explores the many aspects of the border region through photographs taken by David Bacon over a period of 30 years. These photographs trace the changes in the border wall itself, and the social movements in border communities, factories and fields. This bilingual book provides a reality check, to allow us to see the border region as its people, with their own history of movements for rights and equality, and develop an alternative vision in which the border can be a region where people can live and work in solidarity with each other. - Gaspar Rivera-Salgado
David Bacon has given us, through his beautiful portraits, the plight of the American migrant worker, and the fierce spirit of those who provide and bring to us comfort and sustenance. -- Lila Downs
Published by El Colegio de la Frontera Norte with support from the UCLA Institute for Labor Research and Education and the Center for Mexican Studies, the Werner Kohlstamm Family Fund, and the Green Library at Stanford University
"The "border" is just a line. It's the people who matter." - JoAnn Intili, director, The Werner-Kohnstamm Family Fund
IN THE FIELDS OF THE NORTH / EN LOS CAMPOS DEL NORTE
Photographs and text by David Bacon University of California Press / Colegio de la Frontera Norte 302 photographs, 450pp, 9”x9” paperback, $34.95 (in the U.S.)
order the book on the UC Press website: ucpress.edu/9780520296077 use source code 16M4197 at checkout, receive a 30% discount
Exhibited throughout the pandemic in the Cecil H. Green Library at Stanford. The online exhibition (https://exhibits.stanford.edu/bacon), which includes additional content not included in the physical show, is accessible to everyone, and is part of an accessible digital spotlight collection that includes significant images from this body of work. For a catalog: (https://web.stanford.edu/dept/spec_coll/NonVendorPubOrderform2017.pdf)
Online Interviews and Presentations
Red Lens Episode 6: David Bacon on US-Mexico border photography Brad Segal: On episode 6 of Red Lens, I talk with David Bacon.
David Bacon is a California-based writer and documentary photographer. A former union organizer, today he documents labor, the global economy, war and migration, and the struggle for human rights. We talk about David's new book, 'More than a Wall / Mas que un muro' which includes 30 years of his photography and oral histories from communities & struggles in the U.S.-Mexico border region. https://www.patreon.com/posts/71834023?fbclid=IwAR0BRhHYbrYU3BoeoAMFKU_zdHs5Xirmmt1LzQtfwf1yD8p9EYLXKhzzbDE
Letters and Politics - Three Decades of Photographing The Border & Border Communities https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nvs6SyXsM-4 Host Mitch Jeserich interviews David Bacon, a photojournalist, author, broadcaster and former labor organizer. He has reported on immigrant and labor issues for decades. His latest book, More Than A Wall, is a collection of his photographs of the border and border communities spanning three decades.
Exploitation or Dignity - What Future for Farmworkers UCLA Latin American Institute Based on a new report by the Oakland Institute, journalist and photographer David Bacon documents the systematic abuse of workers in the H-2A program and its impact on the resident farmworker communities, confronted with a race to the bottom in wages and working conditions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXKa2lHJXMs
Documentary Matters - View from the US Social Documentary Network Four SDN photographers explore themes of racial justice, migration, and #MeToo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWl-uENA7SQ&t=1641s There's More Work to be Done Housing Assistance Council and National Endowment for the Arts This exhibition documents the work and impact of the struggle for equitable and affordable housing in rural America, inspired by the work of George “Elfie” Ballis. https://www.thereismoreworktobedone.com/david-bacon Dark Eyes A beautiful song by Lila Downs honoring essential workers, accompanied by photographs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdC2gE3SNWw
Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press, 2008) Recipient: C.L.R. James Award, best book of 2007-2008 http://www.beacon.org/Illegal-People-P780.aspx
