Lo cotidiano detrás de la lente

About this book

This publication is about a group of images collected in municipalities in extreme poverty of three Mexican regions: Chiapas, Oaxaca and the State of Mexico. The everyday reflected in the photographic work of Jorge Ortega is a collection that offers multiple contrasts. For this book, the most eloquent images were selected, without neglecting their aesthetic value. On the other hand, a group of researchers and designers from the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico (UAEM), through a series of field interviews conducted in 2016, from a gender perspective, detected and subsequently proposed alternative techniques for purification of water and more sustainable mechanisms for cooking food. The visual discourse of this work is based on ethnographic photography -including cultural factors and own or local identities in each case-; while the texts highlight extreme poverty based on certain indicators, such as deficiencies, community needs and infrastructure deficiencies in these rural localities. Despite the critical general situation, the socio-economic definitions and the open and unresolved gap in the basic supply of public services, the visual discourse highlights both the empowerment and the submission of women captured by the lens of Jorge Ortega. However, these images also include the potential and hopeful signs that give meaning to the aforementioned contrast. The men, girls and boys photographed give an account of life in rural areas, although the climates and physiogeographic conditions are diametrically opposed between these small populations and, therefore, capture vernacular expressions in their crafts, homes and traditions. Also, some determinants were reviewed natural environments that show the evolution of life in these small communities dedicated mainly to agricultural activity. The climatology and sources of supply of water resources are detailed in each region.