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Photos find the heart of lost cultures

Arte Américas exhibit showcases the work of Wesley Billingslea

Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009

Wesley Billingslea did not start down the path of social documentary photographer.

He had a comfortable job in the San Jose area marketing computer software. But, in the 1990s, events in Billingslea's life created currents that couldn't be ignored.

Trips to Mexico stoked his love of its culture and people. He had a heartfelt discussion with a friend about choices regarding work and family. During a trip to Taos, N.M., he stumbled across old photographs that he learned were taken by Edward Sheriff Curtis, who photographed the American West and American Indians in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

He had always loved photography and, as a child, he dreamed about ancient Aztecs, Mayans and Apaches. So Billingslea -- born in Germany and raised in Texas and Arkansas -- decided to combine his love for photography and indigenous cultures.

Today, at 50, his photography has been exhibited in venues across the country and in his first book, "Lost Cultures: The Aztecs" (written with H. Henrieta Stockel). He is working on other books.

He also devotes time to education and wants to arrange a presentation to students when he returns to Fresno this year.

At the Arte Américas cultural arts center, the exhibit is named "Aztecs: The Lost Cultures."

The photographs can be viewed through March 5 in the upper gallery at the venue in downtown Fresno. The photos are black and white, in thiocarbamide- and selenium-toned prints that reflect the pride of Billingslea's subjects -- Mexicas, sometimes written Mexicah, (pronounced Meh-shee-kas for both spellings), descendants of the ancient Aztecs.

As Billinglsea says: "Black and white seemed to catch a sense of spirit and involves an emotion that didn't translate in color."

Just as important to Billingslea is educating people about these indigenous people and their history. For example, he disputes the beliefs that the Spanish conquests wiped the Aztecs from existence in the early 1500s. He also disputes the belief that Aztecs performed sacrifices. Billingslea's work as a social documentary photographer is aimed at setting the record straight as a way to help raise awareness of social injustice.

"It's cultural education," says Billingslea, who splits his time between San Jose and Mexico. "It's my small part to sensitizing people to indigenous cultures so that they don't look at it through racist eyes."

These people in his photos are shown individually or in groups wearing native dress and headdresses that flow from the roots of their culture and traditions. The images also are a testament to the substantial trust that Billingslea had to build over time within the Aztec community in Mexico. Accuracy is a must, and Billingslea emphasizes that his projects are "collaborations."

The subjects choose the location for their shoots, so Billingslea doesn't control sites or time of day or lighting conditions. The dramatic results can be seen in the photo that features two men named Daniel and Eppy. The men wear ancient clothing and wanted the pictures to be taken at Xochimilco. It's an area in the outskirts of Mexico City that is known for having 50 miles of canals once built by the Aztecs for irrigation and channels to navigate through Lake Xochimilco, which no longer exists. The lake once occupied a large portion of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, which is now modern-day Mexico City.

Billingslea's photographs have been shown in such places as the Guadalupe Centers in Kansas City and the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg, Texas.

Abelino Bautista, curator for Arte Américas, says the exhibit may spur people to consider their own heritage.

"Just the fact that these people from a historical past actually exist through their descendants, I think brings to mind that we are all descendants from a culture," Bautista says. "You might come and say, 'Who am I descended from?' "

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