Exhibitions explore sexual dissidence, rituals, and ancestral traditions in Mexico City

Mexico City-based visual artist Chito Tenorio presents "El susto entra por atrás" (Fear Enters from Behind) at the Photography Archive Museum in Guatemala City. The exhibition features 15 photographs that delve into intimacy, collective experience, fear, memory, rituals, and the emotional imprints left on bodies and daily life.

Tenorio explains that the exhibition aims to explore superstitions related to the male body. "The project goes through different forms, filters, contemplations, and explorations, finally delivering a brief anthology of seven superstitions in which I construct a poetics of the image," he said.

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The project goes through different forms, filters, contemplations, and explorations, finally delivering a brief anthology of seven superstitions in which I construct a poetics of the image.

The artist also revisits the historical construction of the male nude in art. He notes that this exhibition is one of the few allowing full male nudity, a significant development as it was not possible until a year prior. "It is very important because it is one of the first shows in Mexico City where full male nudes are permitted. Until a year ago, that was not possible at all, so the commentary is not pretentious, but we could say it is one of the first projects where there is an approach to exhibiting the genitality in a sense, even, more educational," he stated.

Regarding the connection between the body and superstitions, Tenorio describes the body in his work as "the portal between the spiritual and the mystical, the spiritual and the material, and we are always, in one way or another, exposed to these types of practices."

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It is very important because it is one of the first shows in Mexico City where full male nudes are permitted. Until a year ago, that was not possible at all, so the commentary is not pretentious, but we could say it is one of the first projects where there is an approach to exhibiting the genitality in a sense, even, more educational.

Photographs in the exhibition depict common rituals such as cleansing with an egg, warding off fear with a bolillo (bread roll), and the superstition that sweeping over someone's feet brings bad luck in love.

A second exhibition, "Disidencias Ancestrales" (Ancestral Dissidences), curated by Tenorio, showcases the work of 13 artists and photographers. These artists explore sexual and gender diversity through perspectives rooted in cultural heritage, spirituality, and community experience. The works, primarily by artists from Tzotzil and Tzeltal communities in Chiapas, engage with living Mayan heritage. Tenorio noted that these indigenous communities are beginning to use cameras and art as a form of expression.

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the body, in my work, is the portal between the spiritual and the mystical, the spiritual and the material, and we are always, in one way or another, exposed to these types of practices.