July 18, 2012

Jason deCaires Taylor | MUSA

July 18, 2012/ Ayanna Nahmias

jason-decaires-taylor-installation-photo-by-eco-desen-volvimento.jpg

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 23:46 PM EDT, 18 July 2012

CANCUN, Mexico - Today, one of our readers emailed photos of an underwater installation by Jason deCaires Taylor. The sender stated that the installation was a tribute to the slaves who were thrown overboard to drown during the Middle Passage of the slave trade route.

The photos were intriguing and upon further research we discovered that the sculptor, Jason deCaires Taylor was the founding member of an underwater museum called MUSA (Museo Subacuático de Arte).

According to Taylor's website, "the museum was formed in the waters surrounding Cancun, Isla Mujeres and Punta Nizuc. The project founded by Jaime Gonzalez Cano of The National Marine Park, Roberto Diaz of The Cancun Nautical Association and Jason deCaires Taylor.

The installation consists of over 450 permanent life-size sculptures, made from specialized materials used to promote coral life, with the total installations occupying an area of over 420sq metres of barren seabed and weighing over 200 tons. The museum is one of the largest and most ambitious underwater artificial art attractions in the world.

Jason deCaires Taylor is an internationally acclaimed Eco-sculptor who creates underwater living sculptures, offering viewers mysterious, ephemeral encounters and fleeting glimmers of another world where art develops from the effects of nature on the efforts of man.

His site-specific, permanent installations are designed to act as artificial reefs, attracting corals, increasing marine biomass and aggregating fish species, while crucially diverting tourists away from fragile natural reefs and thus providing space for natural rejuvenation. Subject to the abstract metamorphosis of the underwater environment, his works symbolize a striking symbiosis between man and nature, balancing messages of hope and loss." (Source: Jason deCaires Taylor Website)

The photos below were taken by tourists visiting the installations. To view his complete portfolio of hi-res professional photos of his sculptures please visit his website and enjoy.

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Art beneath the surface: Undersea sculptures (repeatingislands.com)
These Underwater Sculptures Will Take Your Breath Away (buzzfeed.com)
10 of the world's most spectacular artificial reefs (mnn.com)
Cancun Underwater Museum , Mexico (aroundthe-world.info)

February 21, 2012

Mexico female presidential candidate Vazquez Mota embraces role

February 21, 2012/ Ayanna Nahmias

Vázquez Mota was born January 20, 1961, in Mexico City. She is a Mexican economist, businesswoman and politician, and member of the National Action Party (PAN). She successfully secured the nomination for the Presidency of the Republic, then ran in the primary, held on February 5, 2012 and won. Vazquez Mota led with 55%, Ernesto Cordero, a former finance minister, had 38.1% while Santiago Creel, who was interior minister during the administration of Vicente Fox, was third with 6.1%^{[Source: Wikipedia]}

Candidacy Tests Mexico's Culture of Machismo (abcnews.go.com)
Mexico party taps 1st woman for presidential run - CBS News (cbsnews.com)
Josefina Vazquez Mota bids to become Mexico's first female president (telegraph.co.uk)
Mexico party picks woman as presidential candidate (sfgate.com)
Josefina Vazquez Mota Gets Presidential Nomination: Mexico Marks a Milestone Against Gender Bias (ibtimes.com)
Vasquez Mota to the fore in Mexican fray (thehindu.com)
Josefina Vázquez Mota to run for Mexican presidency (guardian.co.uk)
Latina power in the land of machismo (blogs.ft.com)

February 22, 2010

Juárez, Mexico | Hell on Earth?

February 22, 2010/ Ayanna Nahmias

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 01:35 AM EDT, 23 February 2010

Update: 10.05.11 CNN 'Two headless bodies found in Juarez, third body found at Church

JUAREZ, Mexico - The atrocities imagined in the 14th Century epic poem the "Divine Comedy" by Dante Alighieri seem to prognosticate the horror that encompasses the daily lives of the inhabitants of Juárez, Mexico. The town "stands on the Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte), across from El Paso, Texas.

El Paso and Ciudad Juárez comprise one of the largest binational metropolitan areas in the world with a combined population of 2.4 million people. In fact, Ciudad Juárez is one of the fastest growing cities in the world, in spite of the fact that it is "the most violent zone in the world outside of declared war zones."[1] With an average daily death toll at 12 a day and the most recent massacre of 16 innocent teenagers, Juárez is synonymous with senseless, brutal deaths and is the epitome of avarice and the inhumanity and depravity which are its natural by products.

The violent deaths and murders of both the innocent and guilty have shocked the world and anesthetized the inhabitants. Only in this cauldron of mayhem and destruction could Santiago Meza, known as "The Stew Maker," find purchase and purpose.

Meza, a scruffy, non-descriptive man was known as "El Pozolero" because he dissolved the bodies of the enemies of a local drug baron in industrial drums of acid turning them into a gelatinous soup which he later poured his property.

Over several years he claims to have “disappeared” 300 enemies of Teodoro García Semental, a former henchman for one of the largest cartels in Mexico. Meza stated that he was paid $600 a week by García and during one interview he said, "they brought me the bodies and I just got rid of them. I didn't feel anything."

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aci_wE6csQ]

If Inferno or Purgatorio exists, the innocent citizens of Juárez must ask and wonder what they have done to deserve such a fate, while we ponder if there is justice in this world or the next for those who would blithely take human life over pieces of paper called the dollar.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wREQUO8WG4U]

[1] Wikipedia