Caras de México was created in response to the ongoing debate over what is the new Mexican identity. For over 25 days, the collaborative and creative effort examined the many faces of today’s Mexico.
It all started in the Mijo! Brands meeting room on August 28, 2012, with Mexican Independence Day just around the corner on September 16th, when someone came up with the idea of interviewing 16 Mexicans on their feelings about being Mexican and the Mexican lifestyle.
That idea lead to major brainstorming sessions with strategists, designers, programmers, writers, photographers, artists, students, sponsors and other contributors who joined the nonprofit project.
The social experiment took to the streets, visiting a large number of the neighborhoods in Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara. The project revolved around the question “What is Mexico?” and the answers were surprising, funny, exciting, inspiring, thoughtful and sometimes frustrating.
A website was developed (http://carasdemexico.org) and slowly began amassing articles, interviews, photos and videos of volunteers who wanted to be involved in the Caras de México project.
In the main courtyard of Puerto Vallarta City Hall, a Caras de México exhibition was held from September 15th to 22nd, with various photographs reflecting the current state of Mexico. The City of Puerto Vallarta and the Arts and Culture Board deserve special mention for their support in staging the exhibition.
At the Los Mangos Library, students from Ameyali and the 20 de Noviembre schools worked with Mara Diaz, a promising young Puerto Vallarta artist, to create a Caras de México mural which is still on display at the library.
An important event was the Caras de México Time Capsule at the Los Mangos Library which occurred after the official presentation of the mural. The time capsule included photographs, drawings, articles and videos and was buried in one of the main gardens of the library where it will remain for25 years to document the current Mexico to see if we have improved or not as a society after a quarter century.
An unexpected benefit of the Caras de México project is that artist Mara Diaz is now getting involved with donating her time to work with a local elementary school, teaching art classes to students.
Caras de México does not end here as there are more events scheduled until the end of 2012 and we are still searching for people who want to submit articles about their experience of being Mexican. Through this experience we’ve learned a lot about ourselves by listening to the stories of our fellow Mexicans and foreign residents who make up our country.
Thank you to everyone who participated and supported Caras de México and special mention to Vallarta Opina who were crucial in publicizing the event during its first 25 days.
Jorge Chavez is Senior Editor at Mijo! Brands of Mexico.
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