World’s first:

Camera

AztecThe

Origins’ Mexico City local phase begins.

DePaul’ Jacqueline Taylor & David Miller at the Origins HQ inauguration.

A photographic journey to the Latino roots.

Photographic

The Origins mini-museum at Mexico City.

Origins Magazine > No. 1 > The Origins Photographic Society for Latino Studies

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The School of Communication at Universidad

Panamericana is the right place to be. With a

unique campus established in an XVIIth Cen-

tury genuine hacienda you will be astonished

with such a mind blowing campus. Yet, you’ll

find all the state-of-the-art technology and a

place to truly learn how to be at the top of the

Communication game.

A great experience.

Full semester exchange

program available for

DePaul students.

gherrer@up.edu.mx

www.up.edu.mx

We are having an extremely exciting start for

the Origins program. Our logo has the spiral of

the mother-shell, the beginning of everything,

the true origin.

We’ve already started the local phase at Mexi-

co City; our office and mini-museum has been

inaugurated and we are the proud home of

the “Aztec Photographic Camera” in the form

of our “Jaguar that devours space and time”.

This is the origin of Origins, and with this mag-

azine we’ll open a channel to communicate

our efforts and results.

Welcome to Origins.

Oscar Colorado

Director

From the Director

Inauguration dayOctober 5th, 2009 (Mexico City). Today we had the in-

auguration of the Origins headquarters in the brand

new Communication Village at Universidad Panamer-

icana.

Dr. Jacqueline Taylor made the official inauguration

by cutting the ribbon at the entrance. We felt very

honored to open our mini-museum of Mexican Cul-

ture with such disntiguished friends.

We also signed the first Origins nano-exchange and

binational partnership with the DePaul University. In

the following years we will inviteuniversities from Los

Angeles, New York and the south of Texas.

Since the Latino culture is beyond Mexico, we are

looking to the south and we have had our first con-

versations with the University of Costa Rica and Uni-

versidad de la Sabana (Bogotá).

During the inauguration, Dr. Jacqueline Taylor and Dr.

David Miller received the Certificate of Membership

to The Origins Photographic Society for Latino Stud-

ies.

Dr. Jose Luis Ortiz, dean of the School of Communi-

cation at Universidad Panamericana and Oscar Colo-

rado, director of the Origins Program signed the bina-

tional partnership.

Federico Padillaand his

He’s a little bit of Indiana Jones: archeologist, etnographer and museographer. Under his vest and Fedora hat, Federico Padilla has had a lot of incredible adventures work-ing for Mexico’s Antrhopology and History Institute.

Oscar Colorado, Director of Origins requested to this acclaimed muse-ologist, illustrator and sculptor to create “a rendition of what would have been a photographic cam-era in the nahuatl tradition” to cel-ebrate the opening of The Origins Photographic Society for Latino Studies headquarters at Mexico City’s Universidad Panamericana.

The artist carved the sculpture in stone with ancestral mexica tools and techniques. The creation is a jaguar, with two frontal claws (one of them in attacking position). In the middle there is a cylinder with numbers carved in nahuatl. Right in the front, a forked tongue rep-resents, as any shown tongue on the Aztec tradition, a rapture: the

Camera

AztecPhotographic

extreme pleasure provoked by de-vouring space and time.

The Aztec photographic camera has a carving in the back with a rep-resentation of a hummingbird, the symbol of sun & war god Huitzilo-pochtli. The eye of Huitzilopochtli is the viewfinder of the nahuatl cam-era. The Aztec Photographic Camera is faithful to the ancient nahuatl cosmogony. The sculpture’s patina makes it look old and worn, as if it

had been extracted from an archeological excavation.

“It would be a huge milestone to find such an archeological piece, instead of being his sculptor. But I guess that the photographs of my jaguar that devours time and space will flood the Internet as an authentic archeological discovery and its image will soon appear on Urban Legend websites as yet an-other hoax. But this is not a prank, I’m not lying trying to convince any-

one with a counterfeit prehispanic photographic camera: I’m trying to honor the inauguration of the Ori-gins headquarters with my experi-ence, my art and my knowledge of the nahuatl culture. I’m very proud of the result. I hope that you may enjoy my jaguar that devours space and time. “

This piece is permanently exhibited at the Origins’ headquarters at Mex-ico City.

The first local phase: Origins MéxicoDr. José Luis Ortiz, dean of the

School of Communication at Uni-

versidad Panamericana wanted to

start an international program that

could provide true value to stu-

dents in the USA. “We want to pro-

vide a unique experience through

photography and an advanced

program.”

THeadquartered in Mexico City,

The Origins Society for Latino

Studies is a non-profit organiza-

tion whose mission is to preserve

Latino history, celebrate Latino ex-

cellence, support Latino education

and ensure the future of the Latino

culture.

Origins is a colaborative education

program addressed to undergrad-

uate communication & media stu-

dents and professors.

Origins is a program created by the

Photography Department of the

School of Communication at Uni-

versidad Panamericana (Mexico).

Oscar Colorado, director del pro-

gram, designed all the elements to

create this unique program.

The local phase began this sep-

tember. From a total of 100 candi-

dates, 15 were chosen to begin an

advanced photography program.

The studens obtain feedback during the coaching sessions every week.

Diego Schlegel explains his point of view during one of the Origins’ ses-sions.

15 Mexican students were chosen from 100 candidates to be part of Origins.

The participants face a weekly

Photo Challenge with a Latino re-

lated theme. Then they receive

the coaching of two top photog-

raphers: Gunther Sahagún (Time-

Warner) and Jesús Díaz, a freelance

pro that has published his works in

magazines such as National Geo-

graphic.

Once the program is finished, we

will receive the students and pro-

fessors participating in Origins

from the DePaul University. They

will stay at Mexico City for seven

days to receive classes of Latino

culture and every single day we’ll

have a photo expedition (includ-

bition.

The top 10 students from both

countries will enter the Origins

Photo ompetition and one of the

will receive the Origins Photogra-

phy Award.

The local phase has been so suc-

cessful that will be extended for

another semester in 2010. The stu-

dents are highly motivated and in-

ing a trip to Teotihuacan pyra-

mids). The Mexican students will

travel to Chicago (june, 2010).

At the end of the exchanges we

will have a binational photo exhi-

The Mexico City’s 2009-2010 Origins Class:

Diego SchlegelCarlos CarrilloAdriana DeganteJessica FernándezJaime FloresYamilé MenesesJuan Pablo MéndezAna Daniela PérezArmando ReyesBraulio García SantibáñezGabriel GarcíaLuis Hernán LandívarEnrique MartínezDaniel Albert MartínezAlejandro Rueda

A photographic journey to the Latino roots.

credibly commited to the project.

Luis Hernán Landivar is a partici-

pant of the Origins Program. Luis is

working in his own photographic

project under the Origins supervi-

sion. “This is one of the greatest

experiences in my life. I am learn-

ing to understand my roots and

culture through my lens and my

camera. “

Ana DanielaPérez Juárez

Ana Daniela Pérez Juárez is a fresh-man of the School of Communication (Universidad Panamericana).

>>Profiles

Ana Daniela is always haunting: light, silouettes, strong composi-tions. She receives 3 hours of ad-vanced photography classes in the Origins Program.

“ I love photography and when I started studying Communication I wanted to fine-tune my photo-abilities. The Origins program is mind-blowing: superb classes,

excellent professors and coachs... The program is a truly eye-opener. I’m so happy and so honored of being a part of Origins. I just love the coaching sessions with Jesús Díaz and Gunther Sahagún. Every time a take my camera after any Origins sessions my eyes feel fresh and I returned with better results.”

Here are some of the photographs of Ana Daniela looking deep for the latino roots.

“I’m always looking for a theme, to tell a story, to create a body of work and not just one great photo. This mazahua community surprised me beyond imagination: the warmth of the people is unveliebable. We alwas say that we, Mexican people, are very open. This is extremely humble people that opens your house and your heartst to your camera. It’s an experience that change my life.”

The head quarters>>The Photo History

An old photo studio is wating to become the Origins’ Headquarters.

Everyone was surprised with the colors.

Hand made furniture to the exact specifica-tions.

When we started the Origins Program we wanted to create a space to show Mexico and the Latino roots. We worked with designer Sergio Padilla to create a unique office-museum. We received the collaboration of “Arte Museográfico” on of the top museography business in the world. This is the story.

The musuem windows wating to be as-sembled.

These guys are true professionals. They have assembled museums worldwide.

Oscar Colorado (right) and designer Sergio Padilla (left) working to choose

the exact pieces of handicrafts to show Mexican culture.

The final assembly.

The “Alebrijes” are a part of the Mexican culture.

Another work of art of Federico Padilla.

Toys, alebrijes, Olinalá boxes and mazahua dolls are part of the pieces in the nano-museum.

A fireworks structure called “castillo”.

Showcase>>Photo Challenges

This is a sampler with some of the photographs made by the Origins students in the Mexican Local Phase of the program.

Armando Reyes“The wrestler”Photo-challenge: “Luchas”

Braulio Castañeda“The eagle”

Photo-challenge: “Patriots”

Jessica Fernandez“The Gathering”

Photo-challenge: “Dia de Muertos”

Jaime Flores“Rudimentary kitchen”Photo-challenge: “Food”

Luis Hernán Landívar“Garibaldi’s Magic”

Photo-challenge: “Markets”

A photographic journey to the Latino roots.

Behind the mask

You can discover the Latino roots and uncover the mask of a magical country: Mexico. 6 days. 6 photo expeditions. 1 trip to Teotihuacan, the City of the Gods.

A lifetime experience.

You may be one of the 15 students that will uncover the secrets of the Latino culture in one of the largest cities in the world.

Apply today to the Origins program.

www.originslatino.org