Monday, July 09, 2007

Mexico City IV


This is the famous Plaza de las Tres Culturas (Three Cultures Plaza), representing the pre-hispanic, the colonial, and the contemporary (the words are those of an on-site brochure, not mine). This is Tlatelolco (site also of the famous massacre of 1968), once the seat of the Aztec/Mexica empire, then sorta buried and dismantled--some of the stones were used to build the cathedral on the same location. Much later, obviously, the white building you see in the distance was added to house the Foreign Relations secretariat. (Though that's now in a building across the street; I'm doing some research there.) But if the Spanish once showed their dominance of this space by their control of the built environment--there are new rulers now. Some ruins have been recently uncovered, but they can't be excavated because that would mean breaking up the street that's since paved over them, one of Mexico City's busiest. The new masters: not men, but machines.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your mariposa is now resting on my desktop. SS(my wife) likes it better than the trains, ships, etc. that usually apear there. She reminded me that I should mention I am surrounded by big b&w pictures of my Dad, Uncle Jamie, & my brother Hargan, all taken by Professor Leland back in the 1930's. He was captivated by the the 35mm Leica and jumped enthusiastically into photography. SS thinks you have inherited some of that Dr. Leland's artistic bent.

Patrick Iber said...

Thanks for your comments, and I'm glad you are all enjoying that mariposa picture. It's probably the best one I've ever been lucky enough to take.

As to my artistic bent - it's limited to photography. I couldn't draw or paint my way out of a kindergarten class, but I do really enjoy trying to frame and take a well composed photograph.

Nicole said...

That's really cool. I didn't know that about Dr. Leland.

I think your mom would take issue with your self-deprecation. You clearly DID paint and draw your way out of kindergarten. But I do agree that your skill as a photographer has really grown along with your love for the art.

Machines?? Aaaahh! The Humans Are Dead!!