Latin America

'We were the masks'
By Christine Mehta
March 2, 2010 - 5:01pm
SU Professor displays his 40 year-old Mexican art collection at the Community Folk Arts Center on East Genesee Street.

What began as hobby for Dr. Alejandro Garcia has become an entire gallery full of vibrant photography and Mexican folk art.

Garcia, professor of social work at Syracuse University, has collected Mexican masks, clothing and pottery for the past 40 years. As a child growing up in Texas, he was told that Mexicans lacked culture. Garcia knew that this couldn’t be true. In his youth he made his first trip to Mexico, where he bought his first piece of art while serving in the military.

Chilean film given international voice
By Tamara Vallejos
September 29, 2009 - 10:45pm
Review: 'Huacho' depicts rural Latin America in an honest and emotional way.

There’s a scene in Huacho, the feature-length debut from Chilean director Alejandro Almendras, when the camera closes in on the face of an elderly woman selling blocks of homemade cheese by the side of the road. The shot is held for an unconventionally long time, with no movement or dialogue to break up the seconds ticking by. But in those moments, the audience is able to read the hard-earned wrinkles on the woman’s face, and we can begin to absorb the profundity of a life where a...