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 Vallarta Living | Art Talk | February 2008 
Exhibit Captures a Culture Within
 Pablo Jaime Sáinz - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| | Photographer Tony Gleaton captures the lives of people in isolated communities. In this 1982 photo, parishioners attend a church service in Chihuahua. | 
| | Gleaton calls this image "Alma y soledad," which he took in Urique in 1982. | | |
The lens of African-American photographer Tony Gleaton always focuses on people no one else photographs.
He focuses on the kinky hair of Mexicans of African descent who live on the coast of Guerrero, on the dark faces of the Tarahumara people of the Chihuahua highlands, on the customs of the Samoan people.
“I love 'the others,' ” Gleaton writes on his Web site. “I define 'the others' as those people separated from the dominant cultural group.”
His exhibit of 20 photos, titled “In Land of Heart's Desire,” portrays daily life among indigenous groups in remote regions of Mexico and Guatemala. The exhibit, at the Vista Public Library, ends March 28. There will be a reception for the photographer at 2 p.m. tomorrow, and guitarist José Rodríguez will be featured.
To create these black-and-white photographs, Gleaton traveled on bus and on foot to reach the villages of the Tarahumara sierra. In Guatemala, he visited mountain villages in the center of the nation. And back in Mexico, he spent time in the coastal towns of the Seri, in Sonora.
“In most of the images I produce, the subjects are looking straight at the camera,” he writes. “But the most important part of these portraits is to tell the stories of people ignored by the larger society.”
For José Aponte, director of the San Diego County Library system, the mission of the Vista exhibit is to encourage the self-esteem of Latino youths in North County.
“It's very important to create a legacy, that the youth of Vista have a connection with their Mexican heritage in order to build a better future,” says Aponte, who is the first Latino to lead the county's libraries. “It's very simple: To know where we're going, we need to know where we've been.”
Gleaton's work has attempted to shed light on little-known roots. For example, his collection “Tengo casi 500 años: Africa's Legacy in Mexico, Central and South America” tells the story of African culture in Latin America.
“The photographs I make try to define my own life, my African and European heritage,” says Gleaton, a professor at Texas Tech University. “It's also an effort to bring to light certain aspects of the intermingling of different peoples, the assimilation of Asians, Africans and Europeans with the indigenous peoples of the American continent.”
Aponte says the exhibit challenges stereotypes, builds cultural bridges in San Diego, but above all, empowers young Latinos.
“Mexican roots are sometimes not understood by most of the population. Our Mexican young people mistakenly believe those stereotypes and accept them. The role of a library is to educate and inform young people and their parents so they can question those stereotypes,” says Aponte, who is of Puerto Rican descent.
“In Land of Heart's Desire” has already been exhibited at Lemon Grove and El Cajon libraries. In Vista, it will play a prominent role, given the large size of its Mexican population.
“Tony's work speaks of our shared humanity, of our respect for family, our traditions, our children,” Aponte says. “It tells us even though we might be painted different colors, we are all human beings.”
For Gleaton, the purpose of his photographs is to give a voice to the forgotten.
“My work is an alternative iconography about what constitutes beauty and family and love and compassion, an iconography that's inclusive instead of exclusive.”
Freelance journalist Pablo Jaime Sáinz covers arts for The Union-Tribune's weekly Latino newspaper Enlace.
DETAILS
“In Land of Heart's Desire”
Photographs by Tony Gleaton
When: Through March 28
Where: Vista Public Library, 700 Eucalyptus Ave.
Cost: Free
Information: (858) 694-2415 |
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