Texas Performing Arts Features Hernadez-Claire Exhibition, 9/9

Texas Performing Arts' ArtesAméricas Program, in partnership with Cultura UDG (The Culture & Arts Division of the University of Guadalajara in Mexico), presents José Hernández-Claire photographic essay entitled National Exodus: Immigration Into the US, beginning Thursday, September 9 in the Bass Concert Hall Lobby. This exhibit depicts the dramatic reality of men, women, and children making their way to the Mexico-US border in search of a better life.

"National Exodus: Immigration Into the US attempts to show the treacherous, dramatic and sometimes tragic journey taken by immigrants who travel from the Suchiate River, which marks the southwestern border between Mexico and Guatemala, up through Mexico to the US border. This route is known as the 'Death Train' and 'The Beast' because of the toll it takes in terms of accidents and lives," says José Hernández-Claire.

The issue of immigration is an old one for Mexico. In the 1940s, after World War II, The US began hiring temporary laborers to work in the fields. With time, this phenomenon, fueled by Mexico's economic problems, created a necessity for migration into its northern neighbor. Illegal immigration, a complex problem, has grown and expanded to numerous other countries in Central and South America. Today, immigrant wages transferred home to Mexico create the second most important income for the nation's economy.

This photographic work, 2 years in the making, consists of 77 images. They focus primarily on the journey from south of the Mexico-Guatemala border to the north of the Mexico-US border, the latter being the destination of migrants whose American dream remains unhampered by old walls or new walls or any other natural or manmade obstacle.  The search for decent work that will allow them better opportunities to develop and sustain their families takes them thousands of miles from their homes and through Mexican territory where they encounter all types of human rights violations: extortion, theft, threats, physical harm, abductions, kidnappings, murder by organized gangs or corrupt authorities, or accidents on the way such as mutilation of limbs or even death. It is clear that governments are not trying at all to retain this workforce in their home countries by offering employment, better wages, decent housing, and basic services.

José Hernández-Claire is a native of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico and his work has received many international awards and distinctions, including the WHO-OMS Ambassador Prize (1988) and the King of Spain International Prize for Photojournalism (1992).

He studied photography at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York (1978-1982), and has won grants from the Mother Jones Foundation in San Francisco, California (1996) and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation in New York (2001). He has had more than 25 one-man shows and more than 80 group shows in Hungary, Switzerland, Belgium, Cuba, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Lebanon and Spain, and his work has been included in collections at Musée de L´Elysée (Lausanne, Switzerland), Bibliotéque National (Paris), Musée Nicephore Niepce (Chalon-Sur-Saone, France), the Portland Museum of Art (USA), the Hungarian Museum of Photography (Kecskemét) and the M+M Collection (Auer, Switzerland).

In partnership with the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies, ArtesAméricas promotes cultural dialogue in the Americas through the performing arts. For more information, please visit artesamericas.org http://www.artesamericas.org .

For information on Cultura UDG, please visit www.culturaudg.com.

The exhibition in the Bass Concert Hall lobby can be viewed free of charge Monday through Friday, 11 AM - 2 PM. A map of the campus: TexasPerformingArts.org/visit/maps_directions. To view images from this exhibition, please visit Hernandez-Claire's website at fotoclaire.com.

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