Maguey XXI

Born in 1979, Pablo López Luz explores Mexican identity through photographs of landscapes and cityscapes, from above and within Mexico City. His works also include residential facades and other architectural details found across the megalopolis, fusing Mexico’s pre-Columbian history with its modern identity through use of visual patterns and pyramids. Deeply influenced by photographer Graciela Iturbide, López Luz brings forth the complexities of contemporary Mexican culture through his organic, geometric, and poetic visual observations. This work is from a recent series – “Maguey XXI” (2020) -- in which López Luz photographs the symbolic monumental succulent, a source of both nutrients and healing. The sweetening, and intoxicating, agave plant has been the subject of many Mexican artists over time, as seen in work by Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Tina Modotti, and Mariana Yampolsky among others. López Luz’s representation of the large resilient maguey points to mexicanidad and evokes the resilience of Mexican identity – this maguey has been cut, marked up, and even bandaged, but still stands strong in the urban landscape.