Mexico, D.F. Various photographers.

Mexico, D.F. Various photographers.

Photograps by Ivan Alechine, Mauricio Alejo, Mario Bellatin, Jean-Marc Bustamente, Antonio Caballero, Miguel Calderón, M. A. Cruz, Milagros de la Torre, Héctor García, Maya Goded, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Lourdes Grobet, Graciela Iturbide, Toni Kuhn, David Levinthal, Leo Matiz, Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, Enrique Metinides, Arturo Ortega, Miguel Rio Branco, Santiago Sierra, José Trinidad Romero

Edition by Alexis Fabry
Design by Olivier Andreotti
Text by José Manuel Prieto (in Spanish and French)

Published by Toluca Éditions, 2004. Printed in Mexico City. First edition, limited to 1,000 copies.

Mexico, D.F. is a book about Mexico City: its residents, culture, relationship, associations, life, changes. A photo narrative created by 22 photographers with a poetic prose written by Cuban writer José Manuel Prieto. The book is produced by Toluca Éditions, known for their exceptional design and high quality artist books. The text on the cover and content pages flows in oblong shape (one of Toluca’s recognizable touches). The book has beautiful end note papers with black and white pictures printed on shiny heavy paper. Each work is presented on few pages with the layout and design that fits it the best.

Most of the images are by Mexican photographers, and there are few projects shot by photographers who travelled/moved to Mexico from other places: Leo Matiz (Colombia), Ivan Alechine (Belgium), Jean-Marc Bustamante (France), David Levinthal (USA), Miguel Rio Branco (Spain), Milagros de la Torre (Peru), Dominique Gozalez-Foerster (France), Toni Kuhn (Switzerland).

The spectacular Mexican professional wrestling, known as lucha libre (free fighting) was documented by Lourdes Grobet, Arturo Artego and David Levinthal; “The Last City” is Mexico in 80s by Pablo Ortiz Monastero; Miguel Calderon work from 1997 shows secretaries working in Bancomer; Mexico City by Hector Garcia is a modern capital; Mario Bellatin (who is also a novelist) shares a collection of colorful fish which decorate his beauty salon.

With the increased interest in Latin American photography and photobooks (especially after the publication of The Latin American Photobook), Mexico, D.F. is an important introduction to Mexican photography scene. While there are recognizable names (Miguel Calderon, Hector Garcia, Graciela Iturbide), work of Jose Trinidad Romero is almost unknown (his cut-out images were used in Mexican comic books). The book is more poetic and sensual than factual and informative (with just few words about each artist). But curious readers will definitely be inspired to dig further.

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