At CFMAB, 12 photographers present photos of the Nochistlan conflict

Oaxaca, Oaxaca. (apro).- On the first anniversary of the police raid in Nochistrán that left eight people dead and 198 injured, the “Manuel Alvarez Bravo” Photography Center (CFMAB) hosted last night the exhibition “12 Views of the Conflict”. “. They are joined by lens professionals Carolina Jiménez, Edwin Hernández, Jaime Ortiz, Jesús Cruz, Jorge Arturo Pérez, Jorge Luis Plata, José Carlos Dávila, Luis Alberto Cruz, Max Núñez, Mario Arturo Martínez, Patricia Castellanos and Ulises Ortiz. The images seek to leave a historical memory so that dialogue precedes violence. The exhibition at CFMAB will last until next Monday, the 19th, and consists of 28 photographic images of 60 x 90 cm printed on laminated vegetable paper, and a 10-minute video made by José Cortes, Oscar García and Jorge Arturo Pérez. The 12 photographers mentioned are members of the OAX Photojournalism Initiative and they document a conflict that was allowed to brew and ended in bloodshed, in addition to leaving some families in mourning. Some speakers managed to capture images that refute the government’s claim that the police are unarmed, even though for this they had to face or suffer harassment and attacks from the police force and the residents themselves. As a chronicle, the photos tell what happened from the teachers’ strike that began in May 2016 to the subsequent failed evictions of the Oaxaca State Public Education Institute (IEEPO), Nochixtlán and Hacienda Blanca on June 19. Among the participants, nine are photojournalists from traditional media, two from the liberal press and one, José Carlos Dávila, who is spontaneous. None of the images have titles, so as not to influence people’s perceptions, but to let them form their own criteria. The photographs are marked only with the author’s name, date and location. At the opening of the exhibition, photographer Mario Arturo Martínez thanked the CFMAB for integrating photojournalism into the cultural space and for the efforts of the photographers. “This is a journalistic sample of society so that everyone can make their own judgment on the events,” he said. Edwin Hernández, for his part, said that none of the parties to the conflict had anything to do with the exhibition. He said that the initiative belongs to the photographers, each of whom paid for the photos that are exhibited. The director of the CFMAB, Adriana Chávez, assured that in addition to the exhibition, this Friday (16th) there will be an analytical table where exhibitors will discuss the theme: “Images of journalism in social conflicts”. After being presented at the CFMAB, the exhibition will be taken to the photography conference that will be held in the city of Puebla next October.