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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
After many visits to Mexico through the years, award-winning
documentary photographer Douglas Menuez actually
thought he had somewhat of a solid understanding of
the country. Then, after reading a Salman Rushdie
novel where the novelist described men creating
tequila according to strict protocol, Menuez decided
to return to the country he loved
with the idea of shooting the tequila making process;
and so he did, this time with Andrés Zamudio, a
Mexican friend and art director now based in
Chicago. It was during this visit that both men, one
an American, and one a Mexican, learned that to
understand Mexico, you must understand tequila, as
it is the perfect metaphor for understanding this
ancient culture.
Tequila, and the legendary blue agave plant from
which it derives, is deeply rooted in Mexican
tradition and history, as it has been for almost ten
thousand years. Mexico, as we know it today, evolved
through generations of bloody conflict, from the
Aztec’s rise to the Spanish conquest, from the
struggle for independence, to an Emperor’s aborted
reign and the Mexican Revolution, yet throughout its
long, complex, and ever-changing history, tequila
has remained a constant and enduring part of Mexican
life.
Now, after photographing in and around the town of
Tequila in Jalisco State over the last five years,
the result of Menuez’s quest is HEAVEN, EARTH,
TEQUILA: Un Viaje al Corazón de Mexico. Featuring
over 70 four-color and black-and-white photographs
interwoven with a travel journal, and accompanied by
occasional “drop” quotes in Spanish–expressive
comments on tequila and its effects––this intimate
body-of-work unfolds as a dreamlike journey of
discovery offering the reader subtle, quite images
of daily life in and around the town of Tequila, and
features not only the landscapes, back roads, and
farms, but also the faces of the workers who harvest
and manufacture tequila. From the bounty in the
agave fields, to the grand haciendas and
distilleries in the town of Tequila and the
surrounding tequila-producing region of Jalisco,
Menuez’s exploration unfolds in a sequence of
photographs and travel prose that allow the reader
to witness and experience the rich passion of Mexico.
With an introduction by bestselling novelist Victor
Villaseñor, whose recent book BURRO GENIUS is
considered the definitive Mexican-American coming-of-age
memoir, and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
Villaseñor’s family came from the mountains of
Jalisco, and he has written extensively and
eloguently about this unique tequila-producing
region and the passionate people who inhabit the
mystical realm of the agave plant.
HEAVEN, EARTH,
TEQUILA: Un Viaje al Corazón de Mexico
By Douglas Menuez
With an Introduction by Victor Villaseñor
Published by Waterside Publishing, and distributed
by CDS (212) 223-2969
Publication Month: October 2005
ISBN: 0-9766801-0-6
Price: $39.95
9X12”, 166 pages, with over 70 black-and-white and
four-color photographs
All publishing profits from the book will be donated
to support the
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
For additional information, please contact David
Carriere
413-243-6767 or
dgcarriere@earthlink.net |
