Agustín Casasola (1874–1928) was a photojournalist in Mexico City who captured the historic events as Mexico moved from a dictatorship to democracy. His images of the Mexican Revolution and its heroes are among Mexico’s most iconic images. They, along with the murals of great painters like Diego Rivera and the folkloric dances of Amalia Hernandez, helped Mexico create a modern, post-revolutionary identity that embraced its indigenous cultures and promoted values of education and justice. Mexico's legendary Casasola Archive is housed in Hidalgo, Mexico and includes more than 500,000 photos. (See below)

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About the Exhibit

Mexico Then: The Casasola Archive is an exhibit about the Mexican Revolution as seen through the camera lens of Agustín Casasola and other photographers working for his photo agency. The exhibit consists of six panels that tell about the Mexican Revolution, in English and Spanish, and 20 frames digital images from Mexico's famed Casasola Archive in Hidalgo, Mexico. 

Artes created this exhibit with a grant from the Utah Arts Council following the close of an exhibit or original photographs from the Casasola Archive in 2012, came to Utah thanks to our partnership with the Consulate of Mexico in Salt Lake City. The educational programming that accompanies the exhibit was developed thanks to a grant from the Utah Humanities Council; the traveling exhibit was funded by the Utah Division of Arts & Museums. It travels Utah thanks for funding from Wells Fargo Bank.

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Teachers can use this exhibit of photographs to encourage students to create photos that explore their community identity. Inspiring this will be an exhibit of the work of a recent UVU graduate, Yandhi Reynoso, that reflects her vision of Mexican culture in Utah and U.S. culture in Mexico.

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Locations

Fall-Winter 2014-15: West High School and East High School, SLC

Past Locations: Salt Lake Public Library, BYU Library, U of U Library, Pride Center, Mestizo Gallery, Southern Utah University (Cedar City), Utah Cultural Celebration Center (West Valley City), Centro Civico Mexicano (SLC), Centro de la Familia Providence, Utah, Utah Historic State Capital, Fillmore, Utah, Sorenson Unity Center (SLC), Utah Valley University (Orem), Moab Valley Multicultural Center, Moab Museum. Day-Riverside Library.

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About the Casasola Archive

The Casasola Archive is a mythic photography collection “recognized worldwide as the seat of the history of México.”

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It was acquired by the federal government of México in 1976. The Casasola Collection, or Fondo Casasola, in the Fototeca Nacional of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) is now composed of 483,993 pieces, of which 411,904 are negatives and 72,089 are positives taken between 1895 and 1972, a fertile, wide-ranging perio

d of modern history. They are housed in an old convent in Hidalgo, México, which has become a central point for image researchers both in México and throughout the world.

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The Archive includes the work of five hundred photographers, but the images in this exhibit traveling the U.S. are those of Agustin Victor Casasola, one of the giants of twentieth century photograph. He was one of the early masters of photojournalism, bringing to vivid life the events surrounding that immense social cataclysm called the Mexican Revolution. As a photographer, and as the driving force behind one of the world’s first professional photographic agencies, Agustín Casasola put a human face on that epic struggle.

Excerpted from Sergio Raúl Arroyo, “The Casasola Collection in the INAH National Photo Archive,” and Pete Hamill, “The Casasola Archive,” in Pablo Ortiz Monasterio (Ed.), México: The Revolution and Beyond (Aperture, 2003).