Four decades of Mongolia-Mexico relations celebrated with a photography exhibition

▲ Image included in Mongolia: From the Gobi Desert to the Altai Mountains , presented at the National Museum of World Cultures. Photo Philippe Paquet

Omar González Morales

La Jornada Newspaper, Sunday, August 17, 2025, p. 2

The exhibition Mongolia: From the Gobi Desert to the Altai Mountains , presented at the National Museum of World Cultures (MNCM), created by photographer Phillippe Pacquet, is a focal point for understanding the lifestyle of this emblematic Asian country that was once the center of one of the most important empires in history.

The exhibition, composed of 25 images, is a journey through the diverse ethnic groups that inhabit the Gobi Desert in the south of the country, home to camel traders whose borders border with China, to the frozen north of the rugged Altai orography, where Kazakh horsemen live, taming golden eagles and roaming the frozen steppes on the borders with Russia.

French by birth but living in the United States, Phillippe Pacquet is a true photographer. He has been inspired by the work of Rodrigo Moya and Henri-Cartier Bresson, among others, and his admiration for other cultures has taken him to various regions of the world, including Hawaii, Papua New Guinea, and, of course, Mexico.

In an interview with La Jornada , the photographer spoke about his interest in the varied cultures of Mongolia's ethnic groups, to which he was invariably drawn after seeing some images from a trip one of his friends took:

“I was amazed that it's not a single culture. The wide variety of ethnic groups and tribes that live in that country and maintain a traditional lifestyle is incredibly interesting to me. It's a very large country, as it can cover up to 80 percent of Mexico, but there are also many isolated places,” said Phillippe Pacquet.

Pacquet's journey through Mongolia lasted three weeks, during which he lived with members of the Kazakh tribes who inhabit the Altai Mountains, a frozen steppe. There, he captured the inhabitants' skill in training golden eagles, their hunting companions. This is a point in common with Mexico, as it is the same species that appears on the national flag.

This tradition has been passed down through generations, as can be seen in the portraits the photographer took of the inhabitants of this ethnic group, who live as nomads using yurts (tents made of skins) as shelter from the cold. In addition to their great horsemanship, one of the great strengths that made this culture one of the most powerful armies in the world in its time.

“They are very friendly people; as a foreigner, you can live very close to them. They are impressive cultures that have preserved their traditions for over 800 years. Mongolian animism and ancient Buddhism predominate in many of them. I photographed them, showing their great skill with horses. They are people who live at a different pace, at a different speed, unlike ours,” the artist commented.

Phillippe Pacquet also traveled through the deserts bordering southern Mongolia, on the Chinese border. There, other ethnic groups domesticate camels, and it's the only region in the world where these animals live in the wild, and they are, unfortunately, in danger of extinction.

The Mongols are dedicated to the trade of furs and livestock products. Sheep and yaks make up their herd. At night, the Gobi Desert is illuminated by the stars like small windows to infinity.

“Photographing them was an important step for me because, despite the varied cultures and our vast differences, I continue to discover how human aspects unite us. Being in Mongolia was like having a window through time through which we can admire the diverse, ancient cultures of the empire that once was,” concluded Phillippe Pacquet.

The exhibition was held within the framework of the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Mexico and Mongolia. Since there is no Mexican embassy in Mongolia, a delegation from the United States, led by artist and cultural envoy Gankhuyag Natsag, attended the MNCM for the opening of the exhibition. Natsag will also be the subject of an exhibition of Buddhist masks, which will take place at the same venue in November of this year.

The Asian diplomat was accompanied at the opening ceremony by the director of the institute, Alejandra Gómez Colorado; the honorary consul in Mongolia, Enrique Arturo Gutiérrez; and the technical secretary of the National Institute of Anthropology and History, José Luis Perea González.

Mongolia: From the Gobi Desert to the Altai Mountains is on display in the MNCM's Old Monolith Hall (Moneda 13, Centro Histórico neighborhood). Free admission.

▲ Editor and poet Hermann Bellinghausen read a poem by Mahmud Darwish at the Juárez Hemicycle, where an "anti-monument" against the genocide in Gaza was unveiled. Photo by Jair Cabrera Torres

Daniel López Aguilar

La Jornada Newspaper, Sunday, August 17, 2025, p. 3

The Juárez Hemicycle was the scene yesterday of a cultural event in support of peace and Palestinian autonomy.

Members of the Latin American Alliance for Palestine Against Apartheid held the second and final day of the National Meeting of Solidarity with Palestine and the Peoples Resisting Zionism, with a program that combined words, installations, and music in front of dozens of young people and adults.

The event began at 3:30 p.m. with the reading of the political declaration, followed by a statement in honor of the Al Jazeera journalists killed in Gaza. Among the attendees were chants such as: "Enough of the genocide!" and "Supporting Palestine is supporting Mexico!" Young artists intervened in the metal structures surrounding the monument, painting them in the red, green, white, and black of the Mexican flag.

Posters with messages such as "Stop the genocide!", "Defending Gaza is defending humanity," and "Neutrality is complicity with the genocide perpetrator" were also distributed, and petition drives were launched demanding the severance of diplomatic relations with Israel.

One of the spokespersons noted that the works they intervene in are often erased, but that the collective would reinstall them as many times as necessary. "If this happens for the 40th time, we'll do it again," he stated, highlighting the persistence of the act in the face of injustice and neglect.

The reading of a poem by Mahmud Darwish (1941-2008), led by editor and poet Hermann Bellinghausen, was one of the most symbolic moments of the event. “This author was an internal refugee and constant migrant; he was imprisoned in his youth,” he said before reciting: “Two birds are speaking above us / Shoot the enemy / What have you done with my mother’s coffee / What was my crime? / You will never be free of me / He embraces his murderer.”

Under a bright sun, an "anti-monument" was unveiled: the fragmented silhouette of Palestine, emblazoned with the phrase "From the river to the sea, Palestine will triumph. Stop the genocide!" The organizers emphasized that these large-scale installations are strategically placed to demand justice, confront indifference, and keep open the wounds of unresolved historical and contemporary events.

Among the dozens in attendance, Alma Calderón, a visual arts student, commented in an interview: “This is the first time I've attended something like this, and I felt that poetry and art allow me to understand stories that are often silenced. I'm not entirely familiar with the situation in Palestine, but I'll research it further.”

For his part, businessman Mario Herrera commented: "Mexico has always been a brother to countries in need, like Palestine. This type of event makes us see reality and prevents us from being indifferent."

To the sound of pre-Hispanic conch shells, used to "invoke good omens and ask forgiveness from Mother Earth," the activity concluded with music by singer Nidia Barajas, Julia Castillo, Andrea Murga, and the artistic collective El Cerrojo.

Merry MacMasters

La Jornada Newspaper, Sunday, August 17, 2025, p. 3

The third Bellas Artes Concert Performers Gala today presents a tour of the different facets of Mexican music, from that composed during the Porfiriato to the current, recently premiered, reported pianist Carlos Adriel Salmerón Arroyo, who will open the program with Près du Ruisseau ( Along the Stream ), a work written by Ricardo Castro (1864-1907) from Durango in Paris, when the Mexican government awarded him a scholarship to perfect his musical training in France between 1903 and 1906.

In the City of Light, Castro met Venezuelan pianist Teresa Carreño. After taking a few lessons with her, he dedicated a work to her that "speaks to this era in which French culture influenced Mexican art in many ways, and music was no exception," explained Salmerón Arroyo. In "Près du Ruisseau ," there are "evocations of water, of the image that its sound and aquatic movement can leave, something inherited from the Romantic tradition, a movement to which Castro belonged, albeit later."

For the pianist, given the "eclectic" nature of the Romantic movement, it is "difficult to pigeonhole it into anything, but a certain emotionality toward the individual is always present. There are many evocations of the past and recurring themes such as love and death." However, Castro's work "is already beginning to be read with certain overtones close to what would later be called Impressionism. That is, this way of portraying, through music, impressions or images. It is not strictly Impressionist, although it is already at that stage where Romanticism begins to give way to other horizons."

He added that Près du Ruisseau was included in the third Gala because it is part of a program that will be presented on August 29 at the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, which is a retrospective of works that have been composed for "the great pianists of history, such as Therese Jansen, Marie Pleyel, Tatiana Nikolayeva, and the Mexicans María Teresa Rodríguez, Angélica Morales, Alicia de Larrocha and María Teresa Frenk.

Salmerón Arroyo also participates in the second work on the program, which consists of concert versions of well-known Mexican music, such as the waltz Sobre las olas by Juventino Rosas, the song Somos novios by Armando Manzanero, and Granada by Agustín Lara, with arrangements made by Manuel Ramos, in which “both the violin and the piano exploit all their technical and sound possibilities, in the manner of the concert fantasies that were already being made on opera arias since the 19th century. In this case they are based on music very close to the hearts of Mexicans.”

The first part of the program, "tells us about a Mexico more closely linked to the tradition of romanticism and popular song," concludes with a selection of songs by María Greever (1885-1951), performed by tenor René Velázquez and pianist Claudio Herrera.

The second part will feature a more modern Mexico that "presents us with different avant-garde movements and ways of approaching modernity." It will open with Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet by Joaquín Gutiérrez Heras (1927-2012), a composer "still little explored in Mexico, possessing a very personal style, inherited from French composers like Ravel, who exerted a great influence on his music. He is not a composer who has written a lot of music; however, every work he composed is of the highest quality and care." The Bellas Artes Wind Quintet will participate in this piece.

Pianist María Teresa Frenk will premiere Preludes, Series III by Leonardo Coral (1962). The concert will conclude with Momo by Eugenio Toussaint (1954-2011), a work inspired by the novel of the same name by Michael Ende. “Toussaint was a renowned jazz musician, but he had this classical compositional side that somehow reveals his knowledge of jazz through the harmonies he uses, although always in an avant-garde language sometimes linked to minimalism or a certain neoclassicism,” notes Salmerón Arroyo. Momo will also be performed by the Bellas Artes Wind Quintet.

The performance will be today at 5 p.m. in the main hall of the Palace of Fine Arts.