“Abandoned in a house that my family inherited, I found a few years ago an old wooden box with a label that said:
PIECES FROM THE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURY
FOLK ART SECTION
PARIS EXHIBITION

Inside there were clay figures (some of paper and wood) made by artisans from different regions of Mexico, mainly from Tlaquepaque, Jalisco. They were made as portraits of scenes of customs, of popular and religious characters.

They were part of the collection of my great-uncle, an important Mexican museographer and cultural promoter, who surely presented them in different exhibitions. Although my uncle left an archive with documents arising from his work, I did not find any information about it.

After my uncle's death, his collections fell apart, and some pieces, like the ones I portray, suffered abandonment and neglect. Due to the fragility of their materials, many of their details faded, their bodies lost parts or suffered cracks. However, the unique and skillful art of the hands that created them can still be appreciated in them.

The reason for this project is neither historical nor anthropological. It arises from a personal attraction to the aesthetic paradox that manifests itself in these figures when touched by light and shadow:

They are reborn in their wear and tear and old age, their collapses and fractures recreate them, in them we can glimpse the primal, the mineral and vegetal memory that is always the beginning and breath of life…”

The Breath of Life

by Álvaro Alejandro López

Generously Sponsored by Angela Bruno

January 13th - February 21st, 2025
Reception February 7th, 6-8PM

The Breath of Life is a photographic series that portrays handmade clay figures from Mexico in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Based in Mexico City, Álvaro works in the publishing industry. His personal photographic projects have been exhibited in Mexico, the USA, Canada, Spain, Belgium, Iceland, Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands.

Website: alvaroalejandrolopez.com

“To feel the beauty and fragility of things, there is nothing like autumn”

- Kenko Yoshida - Tsurezuregusa

“Abandonada en una casa que mi familia recibió como herencia encontré hace algunos años una vieja caja de madera con una etiqueta que decía:
PIEZAS SIGLO XIX Y PRINCIPIOS DEL XX
SECCIÓN ARTE POPULAR
EXPOSICIÓN PARÍS

En su interior había figuras de arcilla (algunas de papel y madera) hechas por artesanos  de distintas regiones de México, principalmente de Tlaquepaque, Jalisco. Fueron hechas como retratos de escenas de costumbres, de personajes populares y religiosos.

Formaban parte de la colección de mi tío abuelo, un importante museógrafo y promotor cultural mexicano, que seguramente las presentó en distintas exhibiciones. Aunque mi tío dejó un archivo con documentos surgidos de su trabajo, no encontré ninguna información al respecto.

Después de la muerte de mi tío, sus colecciones se disgregaron, y algunas piezas, como las que retrato, sufrieron abandono y descuido. Debido a la fragilidad de sus materiales muchos de sus detalles se desvanecieron, sus cuerpos perdieron partes o sufrieron fisuras. Sin embargo aún puede apreciarse en ellas el singular y hábil arte de las manos que las crearon.

El motivo de este proyecto no es histórico, ni antropológico. Surge de la atracción personal por la paradoja estética que se manifiesta en estas figuras al ser tocadas por la luz y la sombra:

Renacen en su desgaste y vejez,  sus derrumbes y fracturas las recrean, en ellas se vislumbra lo primigenio, la memoria mineral y vegetal que es siempre comienzo y aliento de vida…”