Wendy Ewald

Wendy Ewald

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Retratos y Sueños

Mexico, 1991

For the past four hundred years, the Tzotzil Indians, descendants of the Mayans and heirs to their great culture, have lived in Chiapas alongside the Ladinos, descendants of the original Spanish explorers.

When I was asked by the Polaroid Foundation to go to Mexico to create an exhibition to mark Columbus’ arrival in the New World, I decided to go to Chiapas. I set up photography classes for the Ladino children in the town of San Cristóbal de las Casas, and for the Tzotzil children in Zinacantán and Chamula.

It was one year before the Zapatistas’ armed revolt for the cause of equal rights for Indians. When I first asked the Tzotzil children to photograph their dreams or fantasies I was worried that they might be disdainful of the idea. For them, dreams play as important a role in understanding the world as waking events.

I realized the next day that they knew exactly what I was talking about. They turned up with masks they had made from the gray reverse side of cracker boxes. One was the mask of a jaguar, another of a demon, and another was a devil with horns protruding from the sides of his jaw.

Here is my cousin, Miry, with the skulls and fruit for the Day of the Dead - Juan Jesús Murillo
Here is my cousin, Miry, with the skulls and fruit for the Day of the Dead - Juan Jesús Murillo

I think that the backgrounds of small thoughts are white. If I imagine a man, I just place him against a white background but if it’s a landscape or a big thought I imagine it in more detail.

— Juan Jesús Murillo, San Cristóbal de las Casas

I think that there is something like clouds in my mind. When I imagine a lot of things, the clouds fill up as if it’s about to rain.

— Teresa López, San Cristóbal de las Casa

The devil is spying on the girls - Sebastián Gómez Hernández
The devil is spying on the girls - Sebastián Gómez Hernández
The hens going into the kitchen - Vladimir Stálin Becerril Vargas
The hens going into the kitchen - Vladimir Stálin Becerril Vargas

My father is a chemist and my grandma was a doctor. My sister is studying to be a surgeon. I want to be a doctor like my sister. I resemble my father because he’s always in a good mood—just like me.

Vladimir Stálin Becerril Vargas is my complete name. My father read my name and my brothers’ and sisters’ in a book. My oldest sister is called René, then comes Thalia, and Patria, Maya, Galileo, then I follow and my little brother Bach.

— Vladimir Stálin Becerril Vargas, San Cristóbal de las Casas

When I sleep, I see some things, but it’s not a dream because I don’t know how to dream. When we were sleeping, something came to the house. It made a noise on the roof like someone playing ball. Then I saw it dancing between the rafters, but it was a little fellow. It had a white chest, but its face was all black.

We have animal companion souls—all very different. Some have dogs, cats, jaguars, coyotes and all kinds of animals. The people who have jaguars are the strongest, but the cat is the weakest. The strongest have two or three animal souls—like my father, he has three jaguars.           

Nicasio Peréz de la Cruz, Zinacantán

My sister is braiding her hair - Nicasio Peréz de la Cruz
My sister is braiding her hair - Nicasio Peréz de la Cruz
My friends are picking flowers - Salvador Gómez Jiménez
My friends are picking flowers - Salvador Gómez Jiménez
My uncle Mariano is working in the field - Juan Ricardo Hernández López
My uncle Mariano is working in the field - Juan Ricardo Hernández López
The phantom - Teresa López
The phantom - Teresa López
The river monsters - Javier Bautista
The river monsters - Javier Bautista
The devil is leaving his cave - Reymundo Gómez Hernández
The devil is leaving his cave - Reymundo Gómez Hernández

Retratos y Sueños – Exhibitions

George Eastman House
International Museum of Photography and Film
Rochester, NY

Ansel Adams Center for Photography
San Franciso, CA