LIFE LIVED IN PUBLIC – Mexico City Streets
Photographs by David Bacon
http://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com/2023/08/life-lived-in-public-mexico-city-streets.html
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
Through October, 2023
WHEN WE SPOKE OUT AGAINST WAR
Unearthing the history of protest against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
Photographs © by David Bacon
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56646659@N05/52759801492/in/album-72177720306862427/
BOOKS – LIBROS
MORE THAN A WALL / MAS QUE UN MURO
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
Price: $35 plus postage and handling
To order, click here:
https://david-bacon-photography.square.site/product/more-than-a-wall-mas-que-un-muro/1?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false
«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
En Mexico se puede pedir el libro en el sitio de COLEF:
https://www.colef.mx
Los Angeles Times reviews In the Fields of the North / En los Campos del Norte – click here
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.
WORK AND SOCIAL JUSTICE:
The David Bacon Archive exhibition at Stanford Libraries
https://exhibits.stanford.edu/bacon/browse
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)
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
David Bacon on union solidarity with Iraqi oil worker unions
Free City Radio – CKUT 27/10/2021 –
https://soundcloud.com/freecityradio/oct-27-2021-ckut-27102021-david-bacon-on-union-solidarity-with-iraqi-oil-worker-unions
Organizing during COVID, the intrinsic value of the people who grow our food
Sylvia Richardson – Latin Waves Media
How community and union organizers came together to get rights for farm workers during COVID, and how surviving COVID has literally been an act of resistance.
https://latinwavesmedia.com/wordpress/organizing-during-covid-the-intrinsic-value-of-the-people-who-grow-our-food/
Report Details Slavery-Like Conditions For Immigrant Guest Workers
Rising Up With Sonali Kohatkar
https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/report-details-slavery-conditions-immigrant-guest-workers
The Right to Remain
http://www.franknews.us/interviews/415/the-right-to-remain
Beware of Pity
http://www.franknews.us/interviews/525/beware-of-pity
En Español
Ruben Luengas – #EnContacto
Hablamos con David Bacon de los migrantes y la situación de México frente a los Estados Unidos por ser el principal país de llegada a la frontera de ese país.
https://rubenluengas.com/2021/03/video-mexico-estados-unidos-migracion-y-suenos-rotos-encontacto
/
Jornaleros agrícolas en EEUU en condiciones más graves por Covid-19: David Bacon
SomosMas99 con Agustin Galo Samario
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWQSvM9s1lw
«Los fotógrafos tomamos partido»
Entrevista por Melina Balcázar Moreno – Milenio.com Laberinto
http://www.milenio.com/cultura/laberinto/david_baconm-fotografia-melina_balcazar-laberinto-milenio_0_959904035.html
David Bacon comparte su mirada del trabajo agrícola de migrantes mexicanos en el Museo Archivo de la Fotografia
http://www.cultura.cdmx.gob.mx/comunicacion/nota/0038-18
Online Photography Exhibitions
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
A video about the Social Justice Photography of David Bacon:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14TvAj5nS08ENzWhw3Oxra4LMNKJCLF4z/view
In the FIelds of the North
Online Exhibit
Los Altos History Museum
https://www.losaltoshistory.org/exhibits/in-the-fields-of-the-north/
Virtual Tour – In the Fields of the North
History Museum of Tijuana
Recorrido Virtual de la Exposicion – En los campos del norte
Museo de Historia de Tijuana
https://www.facebook.com/542258639265202/videos/659536991515786
THE REALITY CHECK – David Bacon blog
http://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com
Other Books by David Bacon – Otros Libros
The Right to Stay Home: How US Policy Drives Mexican Migration (Beacon Press, 2013)
http://www.beacon.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=2328
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
Communities Without Borders (Cornell University/ILR Press, 2006)
https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801473074/communities-without-borders/#bookTabs=1
The Children of NAFTA, Labor Wars on the U.S./Mexico Border (University of California, 2004)
https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520244726/the-children-of-nafta
En Español:
EL DERECHO A QUEDARSE EN CASA (Critica – Planeta de Libros)
http://www.planetadelibros.com.mx/el-derecho-a-quedarse-en-casa-libro-205607.html
HIJOS DE LIBRE COMERCIA (El Viejo Topo)
http://www.tienda.elviejotopo.com/prestashop/capitalismo/1080-hijos-del-libre-comercio-deslocalizaciones-y-precariedad-9788496356368.html
For more articles and images, see http://dbacon.igc.org and http://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com
and https://www.flickr.com/photos/56646659@N05/albums