Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1538826
1. 2. 3. 7. On black-and-white versus color. I was very late going to color. I liked very much black-and-white photography. Black- and-white is elemental and graphic and strong, and you're not distracted by color. But you can't go to Mexico and not respond to the color. That's something that Greg encouraged me to do — to look closely at the color photography that I've been doing in Mexico in juxtaposition with the early black-and-white photographs. On evoking Mexico. It's very hard to take a colored picture in Mexico that hasn't already been taken, that you haven't seen better before. It has to be more than just the color. What we did was to amplify, exaggerate the color, so that it was more like a memory. My first memory of going to Mexico … I was in Laredo with an American friend, and Laredo was very much like Plano or Phoenix or Detroit — the parking lots, trucking, fast- food chains, without significant identifiable things. All of a sudden you cross the bridge, cross the Rio Grande, and it comes alive — people in the street, colors, animals, cars, donkeys. It's incredible. This mix of third world and contemporary world, right there in front of your eyes. How do you capture that experience and make it meaningful. The color was so strong that I felt I could exaggerate it, and we did that digitally and with the computer. And we also layered one image over another, so that you have this sense of: Is this real or is this not reality? Did you find anything changed when looking at 40 years of this work? It's the religion, the family, the street life, the color — those things all became more so as I continued working. Yes, there are certain things that change. For instance, when I look at the pictures I took 30 years ago along the border, the hairdos are different, the clothes are different, but there's the same family life, the importance of the spiritual life. How Avedon paved the way for "Roaming Mexico." Working with Avedon definitely prepared me for the work that I'm doing now — no matter what the subject is — and certainly prepared me for working in Mexico, because he was brilliant at connecting with his subject. On your cameras. I have mostly used 35mm. Occasionally a 2-1/4 camera, or even a Deardorff camera, which is 8 x 10. But I prefer a 35mm because I like to work quickly, and the camera isn't important. The camera is just a device, and what's important is the mind of the photographer and the choice of the subject. What makes a good portrait is the combination of the intelligence and the breadth of knowledge of the photographer, as well as choosing a subject whose face is compelling. On the politicization of Mexico. You can't be in Mexico without being aware of the politics. Immigration is one issue. The danger of certain areas of Mexico is another very real thing. I'm not trying to make a statement about a political party or how a period of time in Mexico is better than another period of time. But I will tell you that I can't go to Nuevo Laredo the way I did in 1985, and there was a period of time when I couldn't go to Monterrey. It was too dangerous. And then it swings back. So that's one element, and you can't avoid it, but you can't be constrained by it either. Parting thought. I hope that these images give you a sense of what Mexico is like today — points of investigation. That's what this is intended to do, by collecting images in one room and then quite different ones in the next room. We're not repeating the thought from one room to the next room, we are adding to it — religion heaped upon the festivals and celebration, heaped upon the hardships and the terrible harshness of the border. "Roaming Mexico: Laura Wilson," at Meadows Museum, SMU, September 14, 2025 – January 11, 2026, meadowsmuseumdallas.org. All works by Laura Wilson and © Laura Wilson. On view at the Meadows Museum, SMU. Left: Omar and Julio Cesar, Brothers, Puebla, Puebla, 2024. Above, from top: Schoolgirls, Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, 1993. Man, Oxen, Turquoise Wall, Juchitán, Oaxaca, 2011.