¡Puro Mazatlán, chiquita!

Click the link above to play the song while you read; it has a delayed start, so please be patient.

Please join me next week, Thursday March 1st at 7 pm in the Galería Peralta for the opening of a terrific photo show about the beauty and uniqueness that is Mazatlán. That evening will be the inauguration of my third one-woman photo show—the largest I’ve ever had (36 photos), sponsored by our beloved CULTURA Mazatlán, and this time in my own hometown!

Photo Exhibit by Dianne Hofner Saphiere
Yo Soy Fuereña Nací de Aquí Muy Lejos
I am a Foreigner Born Far Away from Here
Galería Peralta
(2nd floor of the theater)
7 pm Thursday March 1st
Free of charge

We will have music, drinks and eats at the inauguration, plus quite a few of the photo subjects tell me they will be present to talk with visitors. Sadly there is no elevator for handicapped accessibility, only the stairs. The exhibition will continue for six weeks, through 14th April. If you’d like reminders, just respond to our event on Facebook and you’ll get them. If you can’t make the grand opening, you can come another day to view it and sign the guest book.

I was so very honored when CULTURA Mazatlán Director Raúl Rico called me into his office last fall and asked me to do a photo exhibit on any topic of my choosing, in any gallery. Of course I chose our beloved adopted home as the subject of the expo; but for a theme? What better than our unofficial city anthem, the Corrido de Mazatlán? So many of us love that song, you here it everywhere around town, and I could make “mini-galleries” of photos according to the stanzas of the corrido. Raúl fortunately loved the idea, and I’ve been working hard ever since.

The gallery is huge, with 15 different walls for displaying photos under these stanzas:

1. Donde el Pacífico es algo sin igual / Where the Pacific is beyond compare
2. Para esta gente que es puro corazón / For these people who are all heart
3. Y hasta en el faro se escucha mi canción / As far as the lighthouse you can hear my song
4. Hay que bonito Paseo del Centenario / How beautiful is Paseo del Centenario
5. Hay que bonita también su catedral / How beautiful also its cathedral
6. Aquí hasta un pobre se siente millonario / Here even a poor person feels like a millionaire
7. Aquí la vida se pasa sin llorar / Here life passes without tears
8. El gran orgullo de ser de Mazatlán / The great pride to be from Mazatlán
9. Que lindo es todo lo que hay en Mazatlán / How gorgeous is everything in Mazatlán

While many of you know me from this blog or from seeing me around town, here is my photographer’s bio:

Dianne has worked with people from over 100 countries during a 38-year career facilitating cross-cultural collaboration for major multinational organizations. USA-born, she has lived in Mazatlán since 2008, spent seven childhood summers in Coyoacán (Mexico City), and twelve years working in Japan.

Dianne documents daily life, community events and “human cultural treasures,” often through the lenses of ethnography. One critic says of Dianne’s work, “There is poetry all around us. Dianne pays attention and calls attention to that in a way of beauty. That is art.” Another says, “Looking Thru Di’s Eyes opens us to things we too often fail to notice. Dianne’s images transmit to us the soul of her subject; we feel we are experiencing it with her.”

Dianne has had solo shows in Paris and Vienna; her work has been selected for curated group exhibitions in Mazatlán, Tijuana, Culiacán, Paris, Vienna and Casablanca, as well as several state and local calendars. Her latest project is an edited volume of photographs called “Cliché or Consequential,” which focuses on debunking stereotypes from around the world. Proceeds will benefit refugees. Dianne’s photos can be purchased at Casa Etnika (Sixto Osuna 50) and Baupres Gallery (Heriberto Frías 1506).

Please invite your friends and family and come join me! I look forward to seeing you there!