Essence of Mexico Collection
Scope and Contents Note
76,124 color 35mm slides, 16 audiocassette tapes and 1 CD narrative of the collection. These slides document more than 330 festivals held in communities spanning twenty-three states and the Federal District of Mexico, and encompass more than sixty different indigenous tribes. In this collection there are four types of festivals documented by Jackson which can be classified according to their origin and function (even though they may have reached a point of sharing characteristics of other types): first are the ancient ritual agricultural calendar celebrations which translate into several cyclic festivals and Catholic celebrations; second are the patron festivals, whose saint or virgin protects a village, group or labor; third are the festivals related to pilgrimage sanctuaries, a product of religious traditions; last are the family based festivals, appointed to certain rituals of the life cycle: baptisms, communions, weddings, and death. Dances, costumes, masks, musicians, ephemera, folk art, fireworks, flora, fauna, architecture, food, ceremony, ritual, and portraits of the local indigenous people in preparation for and during these festivals comprise the bulk of the images in this collection. When possible, Jackson has photographed the festivals from their beginning through to their conclusion. However, due to the privacy restrictions placed on Jackson by certain tribes and/or because Jackson may have unexpectedly happened upon a festival already in progress, a handful of festivals provide only a glimpse of the activity.
The photographer’s audio narrative that accompanies this collection gives a full and detailed description of the images he has captured. The majority of images (67,325 slides) document the festivals and the activities surrounding them. In addition, there is a series of non-festival images (8,800) that include landscapes, architecture, flora and fauna, ephemera, and people Jackson encountered on his way to and from specific festival locations. This series is labeled Environs/Culturas. Most of the images in this collection are originals. Selected original slides have been removed to the San Antonio Musuem of Art's Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Latin American Art. Duplicates of these selected originals have been made and placed in their proper order within this collection.
Dates
- Creation: 1990-2002
Language of Materials
English
Access Restrictions
This collection is stored remotely. Advance notice is required for retrieval.
Use Restrictions
Standard copyright restrictions apply. Permission of Mr. Jackson is required for any copying or publication of The Essence of Mexico Project images.
Biographical Sketch
Born 2 October 1941 in Houston, Texas, photographer George O. Jackson, Jr. has a heritage rich in Mexican culture. He is a descendant of Manuel Maria de Llano, who was Mayor of Monterrey and twice Governor of the state of Nuevo Leon. His great uncle, Rodrigo de Llano, was the publisher of Excelsior, a major newspaper of Mexico City. At the onset of the Mexican Revolution his great grandfather, Ruben Villarreal, a silver miner in northern Mexico, relocated his family to Laredo, Texas, where Jackson spent his youth. Jackson recalls that his fascination with the cultural activity of Mexico was sparked during these early years.
As a young adult, Jackson was a successful restaurant owner, entrepreneur and student at the University of Texas at Austin (1961). In 1970, Jackson became the associate director of a Houston art gallery that featured prominent American artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. It was in 1977 that he made the decision to begin documenting his personal life through photographs. He accompanied friends, botanists, and researchers to the jungles of southern Mexico, making photographic records of the trips. At the same time, Jackson continued to photograph throughout Mexico. In 1984, he became a full-time photographer and created the Parklane Collection of photography made of the Houston skyline from his aerie on the 28th floor of the Parklane condominiums. He became increasingly fascinated by Mexican indigenous folk culture, and in particular, their festival celebrations. Recognizing the importance of documenting vestiges of ancient traditions and beautiful rituals integral to these celebrations, he was inspired to "create a unique historical collection of photography as it related to the time, the final decade of the millennium."
In 1990, The Essence of Mexico Project was born. For the next eleven years, 1990-2001, Jackson photographed the dance, costume, music, ceremony, folk art, ephemera, architecture, and people that make-up these diverse celebrations. This collection of photographs is a visual legacy to the cultural life of more than sixty indigenous cultural groups of Mexico at the turn of the 21st century.
Full Extent
76124 color 35mm slides, 98 exhibition prints, 16 audiocassette tapes, and 1 CD
Abstract
This extensive collection of 35mm color slides documents traditional and indigenous festivals in Mexico.
Arrangement
The festivals are arranged according to when they occur during the calendar year, beginning in January and ending in December. Within each festival, the locations are arranged alphabetically by state and then city. In addition, the tribe(s) associated with each location appear in brackets, ex. [Cruzob Maya]. The slides have been given a festival and location code and numbered sequentially. This information appears in brackets at the end of each location entry, ex. [CV-STE.001 to 184]. The Environs/Culturas series occurs at the end of the collection. These slides are organized alphabetically by state and then city. No codes have yet been assigned to these slides. The audiocassette narratives are arranged according to the finding aid, and follow sequentially from festival to festival beginning in January and ending in December.
Acquisition Information
Information of acquisition method not available.
Processing Information
Processing information not available.
Genre / Form
Topical
- Costume--Mexico--Photographs
- Festivals--Guatemala--Photographs
- Festivals--Mexico--Photographs
- Folk dancing--Mexico--Photographs
- Guatemala--Social life and customs--Photographs
- Indigenous peoples of Mexico--Photographs
- Indigenous peoples of Mexico--Religion and Mythology--Photographs
- Mexico--Photographs
- Mexico--Social life and customs--Photographs
- Title
- George O. Jackson, Jr., Essence of Mexico Collection
- Status
- Edited Partial Draft
- Author
- Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection
- Date
- 2005
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Revision Statements
- 2021 May: Edited by Carla O. Alvarez to fix compliance check errors to prepare for the migration to new TARO website.
- 2021 November: Edited by Devon Murphy to update control access terms and formatting based on the TARO Control Access List.
- 2022 April: Edited by Dylan Joy to update new location at LSF.
- 2025 July: Revised by Ryan Sullivant to fix validation errors prior to ingestion into ArchivesSpace.
Repository Details
Part of the Benson Latin American Collection, The University of Texas at Austin Repository
2300 Red River Street
Austin Texas 78712 United States
(512) 495-4578
bensonspecialcollections@austin.utexas.edu