The El Paso Museum of History offers visitors a bilingual, multi-cultural experience through exhibitions that focus on the history of El Paso del Norte (The Pass of the North). The permanent and rotating exhibitions in the museum’s six galleries feature history beginning from pre-Spanish contact to present.
Mexicanidad: Folklorizing a Nation 1921 – 1971
Sep 14, 2023 - Feb 24, 2024
2nd Floor, Gallery D
Mexicanidad: Folklorizing a Nation 1921-1971 showcases a visual history of artesanias (“crafts”) produced in the wake of the Mexican Revolution by Indigenous artisans and displayed alongside 2D works by Jose Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Diego Rivera (Los Tres Grandes), and many more. Featuring a wide of range of pottery, textiles, woodworking, basketry, and other objects, this exhibit celebrates the craftsmanship and artistry of these pieces and their creators while also examining the social, political, and cultural climate that enabled their production.
Lasting more than a decade, the Mexican Revolution represented not only a major political upheaval but an economic, social, and cultural one as well. At the end of the conflict, during The Peaceful Years, seeking to unite a divided and factious country, the newly installed Mexican government turned its attention towards developing an essential idea of Mexicanidad (“Mexicanicity” or “Mexican-ness”) that could be used to solidify and bolster the burgeoning nation's identity.
To do this, Mexican officials and intellectuals invested in and cultivated the production of artesanias across the country: crafts and other visual materials that would highlight Mexico’s Indigenous roots in a ‘modern’ context, carefully synthesizing Mexico’s Indigenous and European heritage in order to become something at once familiar, exotic, and most of all recognizable. This movement in art and art-making was done not only with an eye towards nation-building but with the idea of presenting a palatable image to global powers as well. Much of the work produced during this time, like the murals of Los Tres Grandes or the tradition of ballet folklorico, is today seen as quintessential representations of Mexican culture.
Mexicanidad: Folklorizing a Nation 1921-1971 will be on display through February 24, 2024.
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Special thanks to Michael T. Ricker, El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso Public Library-Border Heritage Center, and UTEP Special Collections.
Remembering August 3rd
Aug 3, 2023 - Aug 31, 2023
1st Floor, Orientation Theater
The El Paso Museum of History is hosting a video narration and compilation of the events that unfolded during the August 3rd mass shooting. The remembrance includes a display of objects recovered from the original makeshift memorial site.
Note: This memorial pop-up will be displayed beginning August 3 through August 31, coinciding with the El Paso Museum of History's operating hours: Wednesday - Saturday from 10AM - 5PM (Museum closes at 6PM).
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Original photo courtesy of Justin Hamel.
A Minyan to a Million: The Stories of the Returning Crypto-Jews of Latino-America
Aug 9, 2023 - Oct 8, 2023
1st Floor, Community Gallery
*A Minyan to a Million opens to the public on Wednesday, August 9 at 5:00pm with light refreshments.
Over the past 30 years, there has been a resurgence of Jewish conversions of “Crypto-Jews” or Anusim, Latinos who believe they are descendants of Spanish Jews forced to convert to Catholicism during the Spanish Inquisition. “A Minyan to a Million” encompasses nearly 20 years of multimedia documentary exploration of returning Crypto-Jewish communities of the U.S. Southwest and Latin America by artist, Peter Svarzbein.
This ongoing project utilizes different formats to document returning Latino families to normative Judaism. The first, a photographic and video essay and the second and more successful, an evolving food and art installation entitled “Conversos y Tacos Kosher Gourmet Trucks est. 1492.” From the artist’s perspective, Art is a universal language but food is the ultimate unifier. Food is love, care, connection and sustenance, holding a special meaning in both Jewish and Hispanic/Latino cultures. Svarzbein’s work aims to inspire and break down borders, whether cultural, aesthetic or geographic. His practice is focused on exploring notions of history and identity in La Frontera/ the border. Whether it has been shedding light on emerging Crypto-Jews to a larger Jewish or Latino community, or representing the unique relationship between Cd. Juarez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas through the “El Paso Transnational Trolley Project”, his belief is that art can function as a vehicle for dialog and change.
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About the artist:
Peter Svarzbein is a photographer, curator and disruptive media specialist . Graduate of the renowned Eddie Adams Photojournalism Workshop, Svarzbein earned his MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York. During graduate school at the SVA, Svarzbein created the “El Paso Transnational Trolley Project.” This self-created activist/artist project is the impetus for Svarzbein’s public service. His work advocating with community leaders resulted in TXDOT committing $97 million to construct a trolley route and refurbish the original streetcars that ran between El Paso and Juarez.
Svarzbein has exhibited work both nationally and internationally including a video installation in the Guggenheim's "Still-Spotting NYC" exhibition, at UTEP's Rubin Gallery in a bi-national exhibition "El Flow" and in the "Puro Borde" exhibition at the INBA Museum of Fine Art in Cd. Juarez, Mex. Of note was his interactive installation "Conversos Y Tacos Kosher Gourmet Trucks est. 1492" which was funded through a grant with the National Endowment for the Arts and featured on NPR's "Here and Now".
Desert Couture: Fashioning Two Centuries in the Southwest
Jun 22, 2023 - Mar 16, 2024
2nd Floor, Gallery C
“Desert Couture: Fashioning Two Centuries in the Southwest” highlights the El Paso Museum of History’s diverse collection of textiles, accessories, and garments, which span from the antebellum period up to the mid-late 20th century.
The arrival of the railroad at the end of the 19th century transformed the Paso del Norte region into a commercial crossroads, leading to a boom in population, industry, and labor needs in what had previously been a small, predominantly Mexican town. Individuals from Europe, Syria, and Lebanon migrated to El Paso in search of opportunities and brought with them new styles, customs, and tastes.
Department stores in Downtown El Paso like The Popular Dry Goods, The White House, and others formed a hub for imported fashions that advertised to a growing population of customers across the Southwest and northern Mexico. At these stores, people could shop the latest fashion trends from the United States and Europe, purchase ready-to-wear pieces for daily use, and commission custom-made clothing for special occasions. “Desert Couture” will highlight the merchants, designs, fabrication, and trends that defined fashion for generations of El Pasoans.
Neighborhoods & Shared Memories: South Central
May 4, 2023 - Apr 6, 2024
2nd Floor, Neighborhoods Gallery
Nestled in what was once land that hosted pear orchards and cotton fields flourished a working-class neighborhood that would become synonymous with El Paso’s warm and welcoming nature. Many of its residents settled into this area after being displaced from a neighborhood called Stormsville, which was condemned in 1928 These neighborhoods and their residents helped launch an area that would host iconic establishments and institutions such as Chicos Tacos, Ascarate Park, The County Coliseum, Good Luck Café, Washington Park, Thomas Jefferson High School, and the El Paso Zoo to name a few.
This exhibit is part of an ongoing series that features historic neighborhoods throughout El Paso. Previously highlighted neighborhoods include Chihuahuita, Segundo Barrio, Sunset Heights, and Manhattan Heights.
“Neighborhoods & Shared Memories: South Central” will be on display through April 6, 2024.
Still We Rise: El Paso's Black Experience
Feb 25, 2023 - Jan 13, 2024
1st Floor, Gallery B
“Still We Rise: El Paso’s Black Experience” highlights the vibrant history of El Paso’s Black community in the decades leading up to and following desegregation. Tracing back to the first documented African American individuals in El Paso, this exhibition highlights generations of Afro descendants’ contributions to the region as they built businesses, homes, and neighborhoods during slavery, Jim Crow era, and beyond. Based in the testimonies and oral histories of community, “Still We Rise” aims to showcase the joy and accomplishments of those who call El Paso home.
This exhibition will be on display through January 13, 2024.
