Uprooted: Braceros in the Hermanos Mayo Lens

Uprooted: Braceros in Hermanos Mayo Lens serves as a double introduction: first, to a photographic collection that was the pioneer of modern photojournalism in Mexico, and second, to Mexican images of the guest workers that have previously only been portrayed in this country through the lenses of American photographers. Originally founded in Spain during the early 1930's, the Mayo Brothers collective was re-established in Mexico by its exiled members, following Spain's Civil War. The Mayo collective of left-wing photojournalists not only identified with the working class, but were real workers in every sense of the word. The art—if it is to be considered as such—was conditioned to a great degree by their daily assignments from more than forty periodicals in Mexico, Latin America and the United States over a period of five decades. In the course of their documentation of news features, the Mayo Brothers created some of the most memorable and incisive images of Mexico from the perspectives of socially and politically conscious workers.

Two scholars have plumbed the rich Mayo Brothers collection in Mexico's National Archive to select the photos represented here on one of the most controversial cross-cultural subjects of their time: the Bracero Program. The guest-worker program was established during World War II to supply manpower to the agricultural fields, the railroads and some industrial sectors as long as the United States experienced labor shortages. Despite numerous and consistent abuse of the braceros, the program was extended various times until 1964, and in its course, established many of the employment and immigration patterns that are still with us, that may be even more controversial today.

More importantly, the Mayo lenses have given faces and emotions to the braceros as seen from within their own culture and society. Their anxious expressions and expectant personalities have never been seen in press and sociological documentation in the United States.