1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:04,240 At the beginning of the 15th century, 2 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,880 this vast pyramid was the largest monument in the world. 3 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:13,960 It was the heart of the powerful Mesoamerican city-state of Cholula. 4 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:19,680 But in the space of a day, in 1510, 5 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:23,080 a force of Spanish conquistadors swept through, 6 00:00:23,080 --> 00:00:26,120 destroying temples and looting treasures. 7 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:32,520 Thousands were slain in a matter of hours. 8 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:37,160 The great regional force of Cholula was toppled. 9 00:00:37,160 --> 00:00:39,200 And to emphasise their dominance, 10 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:44,000 the Spanish built a church on top of the ancient pyramid. 11 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:50,680 Abrupt and radical change flows through the history of Mexico, 12 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:53,960 a nation propelled by three main forces... 13 00:00:56,760 --> 00:01:00,920 The struggle for power which has defined this country over millennia. 14 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:06,200 Land and nature, which have been the source of life 15 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:10,240 and the cause of conflict and death since the earliest times. 16 00:01:11,320 --> 00:01:13,360 And faith. 17 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:16,880 In Mesoamerican gods and Christian iconography, 18 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:20,600 which has been ever-present throughout its existence. 19 00:01:21,960 --> 00:01:25,960 These are the beats, rhythms and currents of Mexico, 20 00:01:25,960 --> 00:01:28,560 and they run through my blood. 21 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:33,320 As an artist born here, and with roots stretching back generations, 22 00:01:33,320 --> 00:01:37,680 I want to take you on a journey through these three great stories 23 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:41,960 which have shaped not just Mexican art, but Mexico itself. 24 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:56,280 Throughout world history, art has always been used 25 00:01:56,280 --> 00:01:58,160 as a tool by those in power. 26 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:03,440 But for me, Mexico differs in how this incredible relationship 27 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:05,240 between art and power 28 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:08,080 can be seen so clearly across the millennia. 29 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:11,680 In this programme, I'm going to explore 30 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:13,640 how the artists of this land 31 00:02:13,640 --> 00:02:17,720 didn't only project the power of ancient civilisations, 32 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:21,800 they also become powerful authors of Mexico's history. 33 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:29,720 And they continue to give Mexican identity voice and power. 34 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:47,000 In 1910, on the centenary of independence from Spain, 35 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:51,720 the foundation stone was laid on what was to be, at 200 feet, 36 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:54,840 one of the largest ceremonial arches in the world. 37 00:02:56,480 --> 00:02:59,840 It was meant to express the unassailable power 38 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:03,800 of the most durable dictatorship in Mexico's history. 39 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:11,520 Porfirio Diaz had ruled here for over 30 years with an iron fist, 40 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:16,000 the strongest government Mexico had experienced since independence. 41 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:20,240 Yet less than a year after this stone was laid, 42 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:22,120 a revolutionary war began 43 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:25,360 that would leave the Diaz regime in ruins. 44 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:31,440 And when this arch was completed years later, 45 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:35,440 it was christened The Monument To The Revolution. 46 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:43,120 In the 10-year revolutionary war, over a million people died 47 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:47,840 and the old colonial order was completely overturned. 48 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:52,720 Mexican civil society was shattered 49 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:55,920 and traditional power structures eviscerated. 50 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:01,920 When the shooting stopped in 1920, 51 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:05,880 a fragile, uncertain new Mexico emerged, 52 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:10,240 a country that desperately needed a uniting force. 53 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:12,920 A new national story. 54 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:16,200 The power to achieve this lay with art. 55 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:24,080 There was one kind of art 56 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:27,320 that dominated in the projection of this message - 57 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:29,480 muralism. 58 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:46,160 Murals were works of art making a public statement. 59 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:53,200 They told stories in epic scale, 60 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:56,320 containing vast sweeps of Mexico's history, 61 00:04:56,320 --> 00:04:59,360 from its ancient past to its revolutionary present. 62 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:02,120 And they also projected its future. 63 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:09,360 But the power of murals wasn't simply in what they depicted, 64 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:11,400 it was in their permanence. 65 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:18,040 What I love about muralism is that it can't be extracted 66 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:21,000 from the place where it was made. 67 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:25,040 It can't be removed from the context of its origin. 68 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:30,280 The space can change function, depending on who's looking after it, 69 00:05:30,280 --> 00:05:33,880 but since 1922, this has remained the same. 70 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:37,480 And that's so different to works on canvas 71 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:41,440 that we see in museums in Europe. 72 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:46,280 Mexico's most famous muralists were know as Los Tres Grandes. 73 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:49,840 David Alfaro Siqueiros, 74 00:05:49,840 --> 00:05:51,960 Jose Clemente Orozco 75 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:53,720 and Diego Rivera. 76 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:58,800 Together, they made an indelible mark on Mexican history 77 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:02,240 by explaining its power struggles to the people 78 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:05,400 and providing a vision for everyone to share. 79 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:10,320 Where the muralists painted 80 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:14,480 was just as symbolically important as what they painted. 81 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:27,520 Here in my hometown of Mexico City are the Colegio de San Ildefonso. 82 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:33,080 Murals implanted a potent message in the keen minds of young people 83 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:35,840 who walked these corridors every day. 84 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:40,920 For 400 years, this building was a school. 85 00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:47,200 I feel very connected to it because my father went to school here, 86 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:49,920 so he would often bring us when we were children 87 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:52,640 and tell us about what it was like 88 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:57,000 to go to school in such a historical place, 89 00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:59,080 surrounded by these murals. 90 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:03,120 They would walk past them on the way to classes 91 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:07,440 and sometimes, he said, you know, they would stop and look 92 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:11,080 and sometimes they would walk past them just like you would any wall 93 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:13,040 that you see every day. 94 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:18,040 So I find it particularly interesting to think that 95 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:21,960 these works of art were actually part of a centre of learning 96 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:25,320 and what effect, consciously or subconsciously, 97 00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:28,040 they had on the students that walked past them every day. 98 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:33,760 What my father and countless other people saw painted on these walls 99 00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:36,320 was a defining event of Mexico's past... 100 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:42,520 ..when the Spanish colonisers arrived in the 16th century 101 00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:45,480 and conquered the indigenous people of Mexico. 102 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:52,560 Millions died, victims of violence and disease. 103 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:58,240 Rich and complex civilisations, including the Aztecs, 104 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:02,080 were decimated by a power intent on plunder... 105 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:05,200 and fired by religious zeal. 106 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:09,640 The indigenous survivors of the conquest 107 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:14,880 would be subservient in their own lands for the next 300 years. 108 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:22,600 This mural was painted in 1926 109 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:24,800 by Jose Clemente Orozco, 110 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:29,480 and it contains the story of a woman whose personal experience 111 00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:32,000 lies at the heart of Mexican identity. 112 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:38,520 She's known as La Malinche, and Orozco painted her 113 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:42,000 sat next to the leader of the Spanish conquistadors, 114 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:43,840 Hernan Cortes. 115 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:49,200 She was a slave gifted to Cortes by the Tlaxcalan people, 116 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:53,480 who allied themselves with the Spanish against the Aztecs. 117 00:08:56,680 --> 00:08:58,840 La Malinche was his interpreter 118 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:01,920 and, to this day, is reviled by many 119 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:06,160 for helping the conquerors defeat her indigenous brethren. 120 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:13,160 But the relationship had another profound result. 121 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:14,840 They had a son. 122 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:18,120 And the mix of Spanish and indigenous blood 123 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:22,640 created a new ethnicity - the mestizos. 124 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:29,160 Professor Renato Mello is a leading expert on Orozco 125 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:32,200 and has studied his work for 30 years. 126 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:35,920 This mural has always caught my attention 127 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:38,680 because in so many of others, the indigenous woman 128 00:09:38,680 --> 00:09:41,440 is folded down, she's bent down. 129 00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:44,360 And this one's more complicated than that, isn't it? 130 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:48,520 Because she is submissive, passive, dominated, 131 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:53,200 but equally, for 1926, it was quite radical 132 00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:56,520 to give an indigenous woman equal stature like this. 133 00:09:56,520 --> 00:10:02,160 This is a monumental Indian figure appearing on the public building, 134 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:05,560 and that was just unthinkable 20 years before. 135 00:10:05,560 --> 00:10:11,120 I would say that there are no previous indigenous women representations 136 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:12,960 that are as strong as this one. 137 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:18,600 In this mural, Cortes looks like he's been sculpted out of stone 138 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:23,120 and he's quite...stoic and lifeless and cold. 139 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:25,640 And she seems to be full of life. 140 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:29,200 She's fleshy and warm. 141 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:33,720 Yes, because it is a system of, er...of contraries, 142 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:35,960 of opposing, er...categories. 143 00:10:35,960 --> 00:10:39,760 So you have the male and the female, but also life and death. 144 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:43,840 Representing both the colonial condition 145 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:50,280 and also, the race that is about to mix with the white race, 146 00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:52,800 which is the mestizos. 147 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:58,120 The mestizos symbolise Mexico's hybrid culture. 148 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:02,200 The mix of indigenous and European blood, 149 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:06,920 common to millions of Mexicans to this day, including me. 150 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:11,880 But Orozco's painting is also a reminder 151 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:15,720 that the power struggle between the two ethnic traditions 152 00:11:15,720 --> 00:11:17,600 has not been forgotten. 153 00:11:19,680 --> 00:11:22,640 This is a monument to the mestizo. 154 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:27,400 La Malinche and Hernan Cortes sit surrounded by artefacts 155 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:30,160 of pre-Hispanic and Spanish cultures. 156 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:34,440 To me, it's an unremarkable work of art 157 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:36,680 in the corner of a Mexico City park, 158 00:11:36,680 --> 00:11:41,960 but what's interesting is that this isn't its original location. 159 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:45,200 People there didn't want La Malinche near them 160 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:47,680 and insisted she was removed. 161 00:11:47,680 --> 00:11:52,200 For many Mexicans, she remains an immoral traitor. 162 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:57,480 But for one of Mexico's leading writers, 163 00:11:57,480 --> 00:12:00,440 La Malinche has been maligned for too long. 164 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:04,800 Laura Esquivel's novel, La Malinche, 165 00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:09,160 portrays a woman who is not only a translator, 166 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:11,120 but a key mediator 167 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:13,600 between the indigenous people and the invaders. 168 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:31,560 The conflict within the Mexican sense of identity continues today. 169 00:13:31,560 --> 00:13:35,280 La Malinche might never be forgiven by everyone, 170 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:40,160 even as ethnic difference is not only tolerated, but now celebrated. 171 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:46,200 For 400 years before the revolution, however, 172 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:49,200 Mexico's growing mixed-race population 173 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:53,040 was depicted in divisive and demeaning ways. 174 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:57,680 Artworks known as Casta paintings 175 00:13:57,680 --> 00:14:01,680 reflected official government attempts in the 18th century 176 00:14:01,680 --> 00:14:05,920 to classify people in descending social order. 177 00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:09,240 These popular artworks, often in a set of 12, 178 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:12,760 reinforced ideas of racial superiority 179 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:15,640 and a Spanish obsession with purity of blood. 180 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:22,200 There were the mestizo, of Spanish and indigenous mix. 181 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:27,840 Mulattos were of Spanish and African descent. 182 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:32,640 And at the bottom were ahi te estas, 183 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:34,760 meaning, "stay where you are", 184 00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:40,400 a person born with a mix of Spanish, African and indigenous blood. 185 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:46,560 But in post-revolutionary Mexico, 186 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:48,960 everyone was Mexican and equal 187 00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:51,000 in the country's past and present. 188 00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:56,280 This message of inclusion and rebirth 189 00:14:56,280 --> 00:14:58,680 was proclaimed loud and clear 190 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:03,160 in a vast mural covering the walls of the presidential palace - 191 00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:04,960 the heart of Mexican power. 192 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:12,960 Thousands of years of history cover 275 square metres. 193 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:17,720 Events and characters from ancient and modern Mexico 194 00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:22,960 appear in what is nothing less than a new and radical chronicle 195 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:25,400 of Mexican history in its entirety. 196 00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:29,400 The artist was Diego Rivera, 197 00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:32,160 one of the giants of 20th-century art. 198 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:37,040 His epic of the Mexican people 199 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:40,440 is one of the greatest murals anywhere in the world. 200 00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:45,360 The actual experience is quite overwhelming. 201 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:49,360 And it really encompasses you as you're walking through it. Yes. 202 00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:52,920 VOICEOVER: Art historian Claudia Molina has researched 203 00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:55,280 Diego Rivera's murals extensively. 204 00:15:55,280 --> 00:16:00,080 Diego Rivera was thinking about the eye of the spectator. 205 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:04,360 Because the normal eye doesn't go from right to left 206 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:07,400 or left to right, it goes like a circle. 207 00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:10,120 Because we are on the stairs 208 00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:13,880 and all muralism puts the spectator in an active role. 209 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:17,480 Rivera created his mural as a triptych, 210 00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:21,480 representing Mexican history in three chapters. 211 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:27,120 On the right, there's the Aztec world, reborn and proud, 212 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:30,880 rather than crushed and defeated following the Spanish conquest. 213 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:36,240 The middle wall is called From The Conquest To 1930, 214 00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:40,600 and draws in the subjugation of the indigenous people, 215 00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:43,800 the War of Independence and the revolution. 216 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:49,080 The left-hand wall is called Mexico Today And Tomorrow, 217 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:50,600 and features class war, 218 00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:54,960 attacking the exploitative nature of capitalism and the church, 219 00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:58,920 and exalting the revolutionary message of Karl Marx. 220 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:04,720 Rivera was a committed communist and staunchly anti-religion. 221 00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:07,760 And it was his deeply-held political views 222 00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:09,840 that made him the perfect artist 223 00:17:09,840 --> 00:17:13,720 to express the official line in post-revolutionary Mexico. 224 00:17:15,760 --> 00:17:19,400 This mural reflected Rivera's personal beliefs, 225 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:21,920 but it was commissioned by the people in power, 226 00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:23,760 the new left-wing government, 227 00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:26,520 determined to control the nation's story. 228 00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:32,560 The government and all the elite 229 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:37,360 was very much interested in, um... 230 00:17:37,360 --> 00:17:40,920 use art as a tool of power. 231 00:17:42,280 --> 00:17:46,120 Rivera chose a quote from the Communist Manifesto, 232 00:17:46,120 --> 00:17:50,200 "We don't need to reshape our society, we need to create one". 233 00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:55,440 So, it's very much in tune for the Mexican government at the time. 234 00:17:56,800 --> 00:18:01,400 The commission was meant to, of course, show the Mexican history, 235 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:04,280 but, of course, it was meant to be like 236 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:09,480 the beginning of a new national identity, born from the revolution. 237 00:18:09,480 --> 00:18:13,840 What's most interesting is that if you interview people nowadays, 238 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:18,480 they believe this mural is true, it's their history. 239 00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:20,080 So that's what's amazing 240 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:24,760 because actually, Diego Rivera is not only an artist and a painter, 241 00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:26,720 of course, he's an intellectual 242 00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:31,640 that became the best tool of the Mexican government 243 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:36,320 to imagine and construct this imagery of Mexico and its history. 244 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:40,400 That is the power of Rivera's art. 245 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:45,200 His vision of Mexico, romanticised and ideological, 246 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:47,560 is now part of our official history. 247 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:52,960 80 years after its completion, 248 00:18:52,960 --> 00:18:55,920 the mural still carries the weight of authority. 249 00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:00,400 Whenever Mexico welcomes foreign leaders, 250 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:03,440 the President greets them in front of this panorama. 251 00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:08,440 It's an origin myth and propaganda rolled into one. 252 00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:13,080 The government did a very good job photographing all these murals 253 00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:15,680 and publishing in magazines, newspapers 254 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:18,320 and, of course, eventually, textbooks. 255 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:22,240 So that's why all of these became 256 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:26,320 the official images of national history. 257 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:30,280 Not least because the population was illiterate. Exactly. 258 00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:32,600 So they needed images. Exactly. 259 00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:37,360 80% of Mexicans were illiterate at the time, by 1921. 260 00:19:37,360 --> 00:19:42,920 So he knew images were the tool to accomplish all these projects. 261 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:48,800 The grand plan of using art to educate 262 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:51,320 was the brainchild of Jose Vasconcelos. 263 00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:55,200 He was the minister of education 264 00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:59,400 who believed that the revolution had given power back to the people. 265 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:04,640 Giving the people knowledge would help reform the country 266 00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:06,880 and secure revolutionary ideals. 267 00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:11,800 And as well as understanding 268 00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:15,120 the revolution's place in Mexico's great story, 269 00:20:15,120 --> 00:20:19,680 he also wanted Mexicans to understand each other. 270 00:20:25,360 --> 00:20:29,840 At the Ministry of Education, Vasconcelos commissioned Rivera 271 00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:32,920 to show the new social and political realities 272 00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:34,800 of post-revolutionary Mexico. 273 00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:45,360 Working 18 hours a day for more than four years, 274 00:20:45,360 --> 00:20:47,640 Rivera and his team of assistants 275 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:53,640 created an extraordinary tableau called The Very Life Of The People, 276 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:56,960 over 235 fresco panels. 277 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:05,320 Rivera painted working people tilling their crops... 278 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:07,200 ..breaking bread together, 279 00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:10,640 and, if called upon, preparing for armed struggle. 280 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:16,680 Rivera included his like-minded friends, 281 00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:19,960 his soon-to-be-wife, Frida Kahlo 282 00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:24,000 and fellow muralist, David Siqueiros. 283 00:21:25,120 --> 00:21:27,480 Those who didn't understand that power 284 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:30,480 was now in the hands of farmers and factory workers 285 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:34,520 were also depicted, drunk and decadent. 286 00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:50,720 Having worked in Europe and the United States during the 1920s, 287 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:52,840 at the turn of the '30s, 288 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:57,120 Diego Rivera was a superstar with a global reputation. 289 00:21:59,120 --> 00:22:03,320 And despite being an ardent communist, he became hugely popular 290 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:06,520 among the rich industrialists of the United States, 291 00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:08,840 where he and Frida Kahlo 292 00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:12,400 had quickly become the darlings of the cultural elite. 293 00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:20,640 In the US, Rivera's power was in his commercial value. 294 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:25,600 A mural for the Stock Exchange Luncheon Club in San Francisco 295 00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:29,680 was followed by an even more remarkable commission - 296 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:33,640 one that ended with a very personal power struggle. 297 00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:38,680 In exchange for 21,000 dollars, 298 00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:41,400 Rivera was asked to create a mural 299 00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:45,000 about mankind looking to a better future. 300 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:50,120 His patron was Nelson Rockefeller, who wanted a Rivera fresco 301 00:22:50,120 --> 00:22:52,640 to adorn the Rockefeller Centre in New York. 302 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:58,120 The scion of one of the United States' richest 303 00:22:58,120 --> 00:23:01,920 and most powerful families approved Rivera's sketches, 304 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:04,640 which showed workers, soldiers and farmers 305 00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:08,600 united in optimism about future technology 306 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:10,680 and its benefit for humanity. 307 00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:16,720 But Rivera was taunted by leftist groups, 308 00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:21,360 who accused him of putting his principles aside for money. 309 00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:25,280 And so he changed the design 310 00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:28,240 and included a portrait of Vladimir Lenin. 311 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:32,480 Rockefeller was furious. 312 00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:35,320 And when Rivera refused to change it, 313 00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:39,360 he ordered the fresco to be chiselled off the wall. 314 00:23:39,360 --> 00:23:42,760 But Rivera wasn't prepared to surrender his art. 315 00:23:44,360 --> 00:23:50,640 So he decided to come back to Mexico and recreate the same mural here. 316 00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:53,920 And I'm so happy he did because it's absolutely stunning. 317 00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:57,560 Man, Controller Of The Universe, 318 00:23:57,560 --> 00:24:02,280 is an almost identical version of the Rockefeller mural. 319 00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:04,480 On either side of the central figure 320 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:07,560 are the dominating political ideologies of the time. 321 00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:13,560 Above capitalism, Rivera painted what he believed 322 00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:15,840 was its greatest failure - 323 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:17,760 the First World War 324 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:21,200 and the brutalities of machine guns and poison gas. 325 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:26,280 On the right, Lenin supports the working class 326 00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:29,880 in their revolutionary struggle for power and justice. 327 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:38,840 Every single inch of it is covered with the politics of the time. 328 00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:41,680 It's so rich in symbolism. 329 00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:47,480 At the centre of the mural, a worker is mastering technology, 330 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:51,080 sitting at the controls of the mechanical and natural worlds. 331 00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:54,640 Depending on his decisions, 332 00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:57,600 the world could be a socialist utopia, 333 00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:01,680 or it could be dominated by the debauched, rich bourgeoisie 334 00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:05,000 drinking martinis while millions perish. 335 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:09,960 For the Rockefellers, it was a personal and political attack. 336 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:14,600 For Rivera, it was a belated demonstration of his own power. 337 00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:19,320 I think he had a crisis of conscience of being commissioned 338 00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:20,560 by one of the... 339 00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:24,400 A family that was the epitome of the capitalist system 340 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:26,160 that he was so against. 341 00:25:27,360 --> 00:25:30,960 They wanted his art, but they didn't want his politics. 342 00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:35,600 Whilst Rivera was obsessed with the idealistic visions 343 00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:37,680 of a communist future, 344 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:41,200 other muralists were beginning to reflect the realities 345 00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:44,480 of a fast-changing and threatening world, 346 00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:49,720 where power was emphatically not in the hands of ordinary people. 347 00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:55,720 The Hospicio Cabanas in Guadalajara 348 00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:59,040 is one of the most incredible interiors in world art. 349 00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:04,120 It's been called the Sistine Chapel of the Americas. 350 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:12,720 Here, Jose Clemente Orozco painted a story of Mexico 351 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:15,840 that showed he was deeply worried about the future. 352 00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:22,200 As the 1930s went on, fascism spread in Europe, 353 00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:27,160 and Stalin's brand of communism saw millions exiled or executed. 354 00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:30,920 Orozco feared that reactionary forces 355 00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:35,720 could threaten Mexico's revolution and turn back the clock. 356 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:42,160 I think the energy and drama in his brushstrokes 357 00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:45,320 make his provocative message an urgent one. 358 00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:52,440 All these murals are working towards Orozco's climactic vision. 359 00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:55,000 what many consider his masterpiece. 360 00:26:56,920 --> 00:26:59,800 In the dome of this chapel is Orozco's Man Of Fire. 361 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:05,560 This figure, engulfed in vibrant red and yellow flames, 362 00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:07,720 is an allegory of the destruction 363 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:10,680 that technology and progress can bring. 364 00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:17,440 Man is trying to defy external forces as he ascends through fire. 365 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:22,560 He wants to fly, but, like Icarus of Greek myth, he will fall. 366 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:27,880 Orozco completed the work in 1939 367 00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:32,640 as right-wing nationalists declared victory in the Spanish Civil War. 368 00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:38,400 This is a statement about individual freedom, 369 00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:43,840 and...that was pretty much at stake... 370 00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:47,080 ..at the time. 371 00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:50,600 Many people thought, Orozco amongst them, 372 00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:53,720 that what had happened in Spain, 373 00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:55,880 a reactionary uprising, 374 00:27:55,880 --> 00:28:01,640 a total destruction of the civil institution, 375 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:04,040 that could happen in Mexico, as well. 376 00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:09,640 Orozco realises that some trends in anarchism, 377 00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:12,360 socialism, fascism, 378 00:28:12,360 --> 00:28:15,320 but also in the democratic discourse, are very dangerous. 379 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:18,920 Muralism had begun by serving power 380 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:22,240 and transmitting the values of the revolutionary state. 381 00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:27,560 Now it was confronting power, 382 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:31,480 warning of the looming threats to the ideals of the revolution. 383 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:36,600 And the ultimate expression of this fell to the youngest 384 00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:40,000 and most uncompromisingly radical of the big three, 385 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:43,120 David Alfaro Siqueiros. 386 00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:47,840 For Siqueiros, art and revolution were inseparable. 387 00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:52,840 At 18, he quit art college to fight on the front lines 388 00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:54,280 of the Mexican Revolution. 389 00:28:55,280 --> 00:29:00,400 And in 1936, he fought in the Spanish Civil War, 390 00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:04,160 witnessing the triumph of the Nazi-backed fascists. 391 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:07,960 When he returned to Mexico, 392 00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:10,680 he painted perhaps the most caustic warning 393 00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:12,920 against not just fascism, 394 00:29:12,920 --> 00:29:14,760 but the acquiescence of democracy 395 00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:16,640 and capitalism in its rise. 396 00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:20,200 Wow! 397 00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:22,600 Dominating a stairwell in the headquarters 398 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:25,880 of the Electrical Workers' Union in Mexico City, 399 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:27,800 is A Portrait Of The Bourgeoisie. 400 00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:34,160 The mural is a triptych whose imagery makes no attempt 401 00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:36,120 to hide the anger and resentment 402 00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:39,080 of a man who had witnessed at first hand 403 00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:41,720 fascism defeat socialism in Spain. 404 00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:46,720 It really envelops you in a very... 405 00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:49,400 SHE EXHALES ..claustrophobic sense. 406 00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:53,400 You almost have to take a few steps back. 407 00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:58,880 The mural is a warning to the Mexican proletariat 408 00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:01,800 of the implacable array of forces that confront it. 409 00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:08,000 For Siqueiros, the Mexican Revolution had stalled, 410 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:11,200 co-opted by the bourgeois middle class. 411 00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:15,960 He shows the ordinary man crushed by stronger powers. 412 00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:21,440 A monstrous machine turns workers' blood into gold. 413 00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:26,320 Figures in gas masks represent Britain, 414 00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:28,560 France and the US on the left, 415 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:32,240 and Germany, Italy and Japan on the right. 416 00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:35,720 Siqueiros seems to make them equally culpable 417 00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:38,560 for the money machine's grim business model. 418 00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:43,600 Because he was, really, a revolutionary, 419 00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:49,120 and the themes that he's actually painting about were global themes 420 00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:52,760 of America and Europe, in his words, 421 00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:54,800 colluding with fascism, 422 00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:59,200 and the ideals that he stood for falling. 423 00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:04,480 I think this sadness or disappointment came across as anger. 424 00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:08,320 And he took every opportunity to express that. 425 00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:11,160 And I think this is a great example of it. 426 00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:13,480 The values of liberte, 427 00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:16,520 egalite and fraternite burning. 428 00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:18,920 There's nothing ambiguous about that. 429 00:31:21,440 --> 00:31:24,760 The only message of hope is a revolutionary figure 430 00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:28,200 bravely confronting the terrifying scene. 431 00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:33,840 But he's alone, symbolising the isolation 432 00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:35,640 of the Mexican proletariat. 433 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:41,800 "Don't look to others to help," Siqueiros is saying to the workers. 434 00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:46,400 "You are the only reliable weapons in the revolutionary struggle." 435 00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:50,840 And he carried this message of solidarity 436 00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:53,280 into the technique of the painting, 437 00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:55,280 working with a team of artists 438 00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:58,960 using spray cans to remove the hand of the individual. 439 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:05,960 What remains might bear only Siqueiros' name, 440 00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:09,760 but it's a call for unity and collective will. 441 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:16,640 It's amazing to me that it has remained so intact. 442 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:19,640 It's absolutely flawless. 443 00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:24,160 And also, thematically, it could have been made yesterday. 444 00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:29,120 Ever the activist, 445 00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:32,400 Siqueiros didn't attend the opening of the mural in 1940. 446 00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:38,920 He was in hiding, 447 00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:41,080 accused of an assassination attempt 448 00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:45,280 on Soviet dissident Leon Trotsky in Mexico City. 449 00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:58,240 By the 1950s, the fervent ideals of the revolution had dissipated. 450 00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:06,640 Mexico's leaders wanted to position the country 451 00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:08,960 as a modern, liberal democracy. 452 00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:14,160 HUBBUB 453 00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:25,520 This colossal monolith represented 454 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:29,080 what the powerhouse behind this modernisation was to be. 455 00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:43,480 It's the library of Mexico's national university. 456 00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:47,360 The building opened in 1952, 457 00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:50,160 part of a huge investment in a new campus. 458 00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:55,480 The idea was that through universal higher education, 459 00:33:55,480 --> 00:34:00,080 the latent power of Mexico's population could be unleashed, 460 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:02,600 and a prosperous future secured. 461 00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:07,880 The library was designed by Juan O'Gorman, 462 00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:10,040 born in Mexico to an Irish father. 463 00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:14,360 Its monumental modernist form, 464 00:34:14,360 --> 00:34:17,120 mirrored across the campus architecture, 465 00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:20,040 expressed the technological sophistication 466 00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:23,280 that would be key to Mexico's development. 467 00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:29,600 But the true symbolic power of the library 468 00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:32,760 is not in the ways it points to the future, 469 00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:35,400 but in the ways it draws from the past. 470 00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:41,160 The building is windowless, covered in mosaic 471 00:34:41,160 --> 00:34:45,080 with murals rich in Mesoamerican imagery and mythology. 472 00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:52,120 It feels like a glorification of learning and history. 473 00:34:52,120 --> 00:34:54,400 Like the Spanish codices, 474 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:57,960 the books that chronicle pre-Hispanic life and culture 475 00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:03,760 have been projected on every side of this building's massive facades. 476 00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:08,280 Surrounding the structures are open plazas 477 00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:11,440 designed for everyone to congregate and socialise, 478 00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:15,200 regardless of whether they are students or not. 479 00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:24,800 THEY SPEAK SPANISH 480 00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:36,600 I'm buying raspado, which is basically ice 481 00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:38,760 grated off a big ice block 482 00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:42,320 and then you get all sorts of syrups that you can put on it. 483 00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:46,640 THEY SPEAK SPANISH 484 00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:51,560 So I'm having a tamarind and lemon one. 485 00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:54,400 Avoiding the chilli. 486 00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:56,200 THEY SPEAK SPANISH 487 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:02,920 Mm! Good. Refreshing. 488 00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:11,240 But to truly understand the thinking behind the spectacular space 489 00:36:11,240 --> 00:36:15,760 and its monumental architecture, you need to go back in time. 490 00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:19,880 This entire campus has been deliberately designed 491 00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:22,720 to project the power of education, 492 00:36:22,720 --> 00:36:24,560 by mimicking the city planning 493 00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:27,480 of the most powerful pre-Hispanic civilisations. 494 00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:33,440 The pyramids and temples of Teotihuacan 495 00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:36,440 more than 2,000 years old, 496 00:36:36,440 --> 00:36:41,160 were designed to inspire awe and wonder among the people. 497 00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:43,320 emphasising the power of the elites 498 00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:46,400 and their evident connection to the gods. 499 00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:51,120 But it's the great city of Cholula 500 00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:55,040 that really underlines how ancient architects and artists 501 00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:58,800 were able to project power in spectacular fashion. 502 00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:04,240 What looks like a hill is, in fact, an enormous pyramid 503 00:37:04,240 --> 00:37:07,920 that covers an area of more than 45 acres, 504 00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:12,920 making it, by mass, not only the largest pyramid in the world, 505 00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:17,680 but also the largest monument ever constructed anywhere, 506 00:37:17,680 --> 00:37:19,960 by any civilisation. 507 00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:24,880 Gabriela Urunuela is Professor of Anthropology 508 00:37:24,880 --> 00:37:29,720 and an expert on the great Mesoamerican site of Cholula. 509 00:37:29,720 --> 00:37:32,040 The designs that they were using 510 00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:35,840 was made to communicate something 511 00:37:35,840 --> 00:37:37,960 to the population, to the viewer. 512 00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:43,960 But it was a tool for the government to, er...express ideas. 513 00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:50,240 It is art, but it had a function beyond being just ornamental. 514 00:37:50,240 --> 00:37:53,240 And what does it say about the civilisation that built it? 515 00:37:53,240 --> 00:37:57,480 You cannot build a monument this big 516 00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:03,400 if you do not have, um...hierarchical society 517 00:38:03,400 --> 00:38:08,040 which designs the monument to manifest its power 518 00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:11,920 in the building of something this big. Exactly. 519 00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:20,800 Over millennia, successive pre-Hispanic civilisations 520 00:38:20,800 --> 00:38:24,280 made the Great Pyramid of Cholula even larger 521 00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:27,280 and ever more imposing. 522 00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:28,920 As the pyramid grew, 523 00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:31,960 so did the influence of the city and its elites. 524 00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:35,960 Cholula became the dominant regional powerhouse. 525 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:43,280 For 500 years, rulers of other city-states came here on pilgrimage. 526 00:38:44,640 --> 00:38:49,480 It's said that even Aztec princes were anointed by Cholula's priests. 527 00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:56,280 Its dominance as a centre of power made it a clear target 528 00:38:56,280 --> 00:38:59,400 for the invading Spanish in the 16th century. 529 00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:04,800 The rapid conquest of Cholula 530 00:39:04,800 --> 00:39:08,760 installed the Europeans as the new holders of power. 531 00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:11,800 For 300 years, they dominated, 532 00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:14,320 suppressing indigenous culture. 533 00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:18,440 But following the revolution that began in 1910, 534 00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:22,840 the power and significance of Mexico's pre-Hispanic culture 535 00:39:22,840 --> 00:39:24,600 was increasingly recognised. 536 00:39:30,040 --> 00:39:34,120 The Anthropology Museum in Mexico City's Chapultepec Park 537 00:39:34,120 --> 00:39:38,160 houses the world's largest collection of ancient Mexican art. 538 00:39:41,880 --> 00:39:45,480 Before I became an artist, I studied social anthropology 539 00:39:45,480 --> 00:39:48,120 and I've always found this place inspirational. 540 00:39:57,040 --> 00:39:58,560 But it's more than a museum. 541 00:39:58,560 --> 00:40:01,560 It was created with an explicit political purpose - 542 00:40:03,120 --> 00:40:07,080 to draw together the different strands of Mexican identity 543 00:40:07,080 --> 00:40:09,600 and apportion them with equal power. 544 00:40:13,640 --> 00:40:15,680 Anthropologist Sandra Rozental 545 00:40:15,680 --> 00:40:20,360 has studied how the government used pre-Hispanic artistic heritage 546 00:40:20,360 --> 00:40:24,040 for social and political purposes over the decades. 547 00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:28,760 Both the President of Mexico at the time, Lopez Mateos, 548 00:40:28,760 --> 00:40:30,560 and the architect of the museum, 549 00:40:30,560 --> 00:40:34,640 wanted to create a building that people would just stumble upon 550 00:40:34,640 --> 00:40:37,000 when they were going to the park, 551 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:41,840 when they were participating in other tourist activities around Mexico City. 552 00:40:41,840 --> 00:40:46,200 And so Chapultepec was really the right place for this...for this new museum. 553 00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:49,760 So the idea in the 1960s was to create a space 554 00:40:49,760 --> 00:40:54,280 that would allow for a collection that would show all of Mexico. 555 00:40:54,280 --> 00:40:59,240 Represent all of this diversity that created contemporary Mexico. 556 00:40:59,240 --> 00:41:03,760 So it's a real hybrid. There's a great modernist influence, 557 00:41:03,760 --> 00:41:06,720 but there's also pre-Hispanic influence. 558 00:41:06,720 --> 00:41:10,280 The museum was very carefully planned and designed 559 00:41:10,280 --> 00:41:14,560 to portray two parallel images of Mexico. 560 00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:18,720 On the one hand, Mexico as a modern, state-of-the-art country, 561 00:41:18,720 --> 00:41:23,560 and at the same time, the idea was that the museum would portray 562 00:41:23,560 --> 00:41:27,320 Mexico's authenticity, the exotic nature 563 00:41:27,320 --> 00:41:31,960 of its very own indigenous civilisation. 564 00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:35,720 The architect, Pedro Ramirez Vazquez, really wanted that contrast. 565 00:41:35,720 --> 00:41:38,920 This very sleek, modernist style 566 00:41:38,920 --> 00:41:42,760 combined with something very authentic, very Mexican. 567 00:41:42,760 --> 00:41:45,520 It's very much a centralising project. 568 00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:50,320 The idea was that the courtyard would sort of bring together 569 00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:52,280 all of this diversity into a unity 570 00:41:52,280 --> 00:41:54,720 that was structured around this centre. 571 00:41:56,640 --> 00:41:58,320 This is very much a ritual space. 572 00:41:58,320 --> 00:42:00,200 I mean, we think about it as a museum, 573 00:42:00,200 --> 00:42:03,160 but it's also a ritual space, where, I think, 574 00:42:03,160 --> 00:42:07,520 all Mexicans come at some point in their life, on a sort of pilgrimage 575 00:42:07,520 --> 00:42:12,000 to see and experience what being Mexican entails. 576 00:42:14,520 --> 00:42:19,520 One of Mexico's greatest artists had a profound understanding 577 00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:23,480 of the power of indigenous culture in Mexican nationalism. 578 00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:28,560 Frida Kahlo embodied post-revolutionary Mexico. 579 00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:30,520 Her father was of German descent 580 00:42:30,520 --> 00:42:32,840 and her mother a mestiza. 581 00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:37,560 She wore indigenous Tehuana dresses from the Zapotec region 582 00:42:37,560 --> 00:42:41,200 inspired by the ideal of freedom and strength 583 00:42:41,200 --> 00:42:43,520 that the wearers of the dresses represented. 584 00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:47,000 And she revered Aztec traditions. 585 00:42:51,080 --> 00:42:54,560 My Nurse And I is a reinterpretation of the Catholic pieta. 586 00:42:55,920 --> 00:42:59,040 But instead of the Madonna and child, she portrayed herself 587 00:42:59,040 --> 00:43:01,960 as a baby being breast-fed by an indigenous nurse 588 00:43:01,960 --> 00:43:05,840 whose face is covered by a pre-Hispanic mask. 589 00:43:09,680 --> 00:43:11,800 She's nurtured by Mexican earth. 590 00:43:11,800 --> 00:43:14,800 Her origins rooted in Mexico's soil. 591 00:43:18,680 --> 00:43:22,880 Another painting, The Love Embrace Of The Universe, 592 00:43:22,880 --> 00:43:27,760 shows an earth goddess enveloping her and her husband, Diego Rivera. 593 00:43:29,560 --> 00:43:32,400 Asleep on the left is her hairless pet dog, 594 00:43:32,400 --> 00:43:35,400 of a breed venerated by the Aztecs. 595 00:43:39,320 --> 00:43:41,040 Frida's heart is bleeding, 596 00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:44,880 symbolising the ritual sacrifices of the Aztecs 597 00:43:44,880 --> 00:43:47,160 and Catholic iconography. 598 00:43:51,520 --> 00:43:55,120 Casa Azul is where Frida was born, grew up, and died. 599 00:44:00,760 --> 00:44:04,040 It's an intimate space that I'm often drawn back to. 600 00:44:16,360 --> 00:44:18,760 I remember coming here as a child... 601 00:44:20,800 --> 00:44:24,400 ..and being fascinated by this person, 602 00:44:24,400 --> 00:44:27,280 this personality, this figure. 603 00:44:28,640 --> 00:44:31,240 She was almost mythological, and then you came here 604 00:44:31,240 --> 00:44:36,000 and you actually saw her brushes 605 00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:38,840 and her wheelchair. 606 00:44:38,840 --> 00:44:41,480 At the age of 18, a terrible accident 607 00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:45,080 left her to deal with chronic pain for the rest of her life, 608 00:44:45,080 --> 00:44:48,080 and later led to several miscarriages. 609 00:44:49,880 --> 00:44:54,120 I remember being...very moved and quite saddened 610 00:44:54,120 --> 00:44:56,040 when I saw this... 611 00:44:57,280 --> 00:45:00,760 ..easel made for her to fit her wheelchair 612 00:45:00,760 --> 00:45:03,280 so that she could really go up to it. 613 00:45:03,280 --> 00:45:06,920 And I remember seeing her plaster casts. 614 00:45:08,880 --> 00:45:12,760 This tiny waist, and it was usually covered in painting. 615 00:45:14,560 --> 00:45:17,440 She spent most of her adult life in casts 616 00:45:17,440 --> 00:45:19,520 and having constant operations. 617 00:45:21,960 --> 00:45:24,240 This place doesn't feel like a monument, 618 00:45:24,240 --> 00:45:25,840 it doesn't feel like a museum. 619 00:45:27,440 --> 00:45:30,480 It feels so full of her. 620 00:45:30,480 --> 00:45:33,600 Full of her art, full of her life. 621 00:45:35,800 --> 00:45:39,200 It feels like everything is as it was. 622 00:45:39,200 --> 00:45:42,120 And that makes it a very moving experience, actually. 623 00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:47,680 What gave Frida's work its ultimate power 624 00:45:47,680 --> 00:45:50,040 was the depth of her convictions. 625 00:45:50,040 --> 00:45:52,560 She made the personal political, 626 00:45:52,560 --> 00:45:57,520 expressing a deeply-felt connection to Mexico through her own struggles. 627 00:45:57,520 --> 00:46:00,720 I think her art is as emotionally charged today 628 00:46:00,720 --> 00:46:03,400 as it was when she created it, 629 00:46:03,400 --> 00:46:06,400 a time when she was just as important as the muralists 630 00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:09,760 in promoting a nationalism rooted in ancient history. 631 00:46:12,280 --> 00:46:15,560 Hilda Trujillo is the director of the Frida Kahlo Museum. 632 00:47:04,800 --> 00:47:08,920 In lending her voice to Mexico's struggle for an independent cultural identity, 633 00:47:08,920 --> 00:47:14,200 Frida expressed her commitment to the country and its people. 634 00:47:15,440 --> 00:47:17,200 But she never followed consensus. 635 00:48:04,760 --> 00:48:07,760 This is a power struggle that's as relevant today 636 00:48:07,760 --> 00:48:11,400 as it was when Frida was producing her work. 637 00:48:11,400 --> 00:48:13,560 But while that fight continues, 638 00:48:13,560 --> 00:48:16,560 arguably, greater strides have been made 639 00:48:16,560 --> 00:48:20,920 to ensure the indigenous voice that Frida championed is heard. 640 00:48:26,520 --> 00:48:28,520 Nowhere is that voice more obvious 641 00:48:28,520 --> 00:48:32,000 than in the state of Oaxaca in the south of Mexico. 642 00:48:34,360 --> 00:48:38,240 Many of its inhabitants are descended from the Zapotec civilisation. 643 00:48:40,720 --> 00:48:43,880 It dates back at least 2,500 years. 644 00:48:48,560 --> 00:48:50,480 Buenos dias, Senora. 645 00:48:50,480 --> 00:48:54,200 The market here in Tlacolula is one of the oldest in Mexico. 646 00:48:55,800 --> 00:48:59,040 So these are made from carrizo, which is a type of cane. 647 00:48:59,040 --> 00:49:03,040 And these baskets are to do your fruit shopping with, 648 00:49:03,040 --> 00:49:05,800 but they're also part of a really important ceremony in Oaxaca, 649 00:49:05,800 --> 00:49:09,160 which is where they share sweets and fruit. 650 00:49:09,160 --> 00:49:13,320 So the woman who's in charge of it that year - every year it's someone else - 651 00:49:13,320 --> 00:49:16,800 puts it on their head and shares fruits and sweets. 652 00:49:16,800 --> 00:49:19,680 So you'd put this on top of your head. 653 00:49:19,680 --> 00:49:21,280 SHE SPEAKS SPANISH 654 00:49:22,760 --> 00:49:24,920 So you'd put it on your head, like that. 655 00:49:24,920 --> 00:49:26,560 SHE CHUCKLES 656 00:49:28,640 --> 00:49:33,960 Oaxaca has the largest indigenous population among Mexico's 31 states. 657 00:49:36,760 --> 00:49:38,720 THEY LAUGH 658 00:49:38,720 --> 00:49:41,480 The power of the indigenous communities, 659 00:49:41,480 --> 00:49:43,520 their political representation 660 00:49:43,520 --> 00:49:46,000 and right to self-determination 661 00:49:46,000 --> 00:49:49,440 is now guaranteed by the Mexican state. 662 00:49:49,440 --> 00:49:54,160 Remarkable, when you think that there are 69 different indigenous languages 663 00:49:54,160 --> 00:49:58,160 and myriad cultures recognised within Mexico. 664 00:50:00,040 --> 00:50:04,120 What I love about these patterns is that they...they're inspired by 665 00:50:04,120 --> 00:50:06,320 the pyramids of Mitla. 666 00:50:06,320 --> 00:50:10,640 So you'll find that the most authentic ones are these geometric shapes, 667 00:50:10,640 --> 00:50:14,720 these diamonds, and these kind of tracings. 668 00:50:14,720 --> 00:50:17,960 So it's pure wool, it hasn't been mixed with anything. 669 00:50:17,960 --> 00:50:19,800 THEY SPEAK SPANISH 670 00:50:22,680 --> 00:50:24,520 I just said, "Where do you get the wool from?" 671 00:50:24,520 --> 00:50:26,440 And she said, "From the sheep." 672 00:50:27,880 --> 00:50:29,880 Gracias. 673 00:50:31,760 --> 00:50:35,440 I'm wearing an embroidered Tehuana top typical of this area, 674 00:50:35,440 --> 00:50:36,920 called a huipil. 675 00:50:36,920 --> 00:50:39,880 And I styled my hair according to tradition 676 00:50:39,880 --> 00:50:43,000 for a special meeting I'm really looking forward to. 677 00:50:44,560 --> 00:50:48,840 The state of Oaxaca is home to Mexico's greatest living artist, 678 00:50:48,840 --> 00:50:51,360 Francisco Toledo. 679 00:50:51,360 --> 00:50:54,360 His outstanding career spans five decades. 680 00:50:56,720 --> 00:51:00,560 Toledo's inspiration comes in part from Zapotec mythology, 681 00:51:00,560 --> 00:51:04,000 and his art contains scenes of identity, 682 00:51:04,000 --> 00:51:06,160 celebrating the culture of his people 683 00:51:06,160 --> 00:51:09,360 and the connection to ancient ancestors. 684 00:51:10,400 --> 00:51:14,720 Oaxaca itself, and his roots here, are very important to him. 685 00:52:04,800 --> 00:52:09,160 But Toledo is an activist, as well as an artist. 686 00:52:09,160 --> 00:52:10,920 For 30 years, he's used his art 687 00:52:10,920 --> 00:52:14,120 to finance campaigns for social justice, 688 00:52:14,120 --> 00:52:16,680 challenging those in power. 689 00:52:16,680 --> 00:52:19,920 While his own work is not overtly political, 690 00:52:19,920 --> 00:52:23,360 he acknowledges a relationship between art and power. 691 00:52:57,080 --> 00:53:01,000 Proximity to power helped the muralists convey the message 692 00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:05,240 of what it meant to be Mexican after the revolution. 693 00:53:05,240 --> 00:53:09,120 And today, proximity to an external power 694 00:53:09,120 --> 00:53:13,600 means there's nowhere more crucial to protect this Mexican identity 695 00:53:13,600 --> 00:53:15,920 than when you're at its borders. 696 00:53:18,280 --> 00:53:21,200 Tijuana, right against the border with the United States, 697 00:53:21,200 --> 00:53:24,960 is one of Mexico's most vibrant artistic hubs. 698 00:53:27,880 --> 00:53:31,880 Art produced by a variety of individuals and collectives 699 00:53:31,880 --> 00:53:35,360 is inspired by the experience of ordinary people 700 00:53:35,360 --> 00:53:38,080 and by everyday politics. 701 00:53:38,080 --> 00:53:41,760 Their artistic statements are commonly known as border art. 702 00:53:48,280 --> 00:53:51,320 Ana Teresa Fernandez's Erasing The Border 703 00:53:51,320 --> 00:53:54,720 is a defiant act of protest against the boundary 704 00:53:54,720 --> 00:53:57,640 separating Mexico from the United States. 705 00:53:59,480 --> 00:54:02,120 Her brush eliminates the border, 706 00:54:02,120 --> 00:54:06,480 perhaps asking questions about the boundaries of national identity. 707 00:54:09,240 --> 00:54:12,120 I think this gets to the heart of how many Mexicans feel 708 00:54:12,120 --> 00:54:14,480 about a border created in 1848 709 00:54:14,480 --> 00:54:16,840 which saw Mexican territory, 710 00:54:16,840 --> 00:54:20,240 including California, New Mexico and Texas, 711 00:54:20,240 --> 00:54:22,280 become part of the United States. 712 00:54:28,920 --> 00:54:31,880 And it also speaks to the issue of migration. 713 00:54:31,880 --> 00:54:35,480 Tijuana is the world's busiest land border crossing, 714 00:54:35,480 --> 00:54:39,400 with 50 million making the journey each year. 715 00:54:39,400 --> 00:54:42,800 They include commuters living in Tijuana 716 00:54:42,800 --> 00:54:45,280 crossing daily to work in San Diego. 717 00:54:47,200 --> 00:54:50,280 Others are undocumented migrants in search of a new life. 718 00:54:51,720 --> 00:54:55,200 An unfortunate few, the victims of human trafficking. 719 00:54:58,760 --> 00:55:01,960 Hazardous journeys and real discoveries by the authorities 720 00:55:01,960 --> 00:55:05,160 have inspired the work of Julio Caesar Morales' 721 00:55:05,160 --> 00:55:08,160 Undocumented Interventions. 722 00:55:11,000 --> 00:55:14,160 I've come to meet an artist who's an integral part 723 00:55:14,160 --> 00:55:16,280 of Tijuana's creative community. 724 00:55:16,280 --> 00:55:19,160 Marco Ramirez, known as Erre. 725 00:55:21,680 --> 00:55:25,240 He feels strongly that artists have a responsibility 726 00:55:25,240 --> 00:55:29,400 to respond to power and injustice, particularly now, 727 00:55:29,400 --> 00:55:33,720 following President Trump's controversial statements 728 00:55:33,720 --> 00:55:35,440 about Mexicans and the border. 729 00:55:38,360 --> 00:55:42,000 Me and the people that think like me and worry about the situation right now, 730 00:55:42,000 --> 00:55:45,760 they need to, like, open their hearts and open their minds 731 00:55:45,760 --> 00:55:50,360 and open their mouth and say the things that need to be said. 732 00:55:50,360 --> 00:55:53,720 Otherwise, we're going to lose things that 733 00:55:53,720 --> 00:55:57,360 took us 100-150 years to gain. 734 00:55:57,360 --> 00:56:00,000 Respect to our rights and equality, 735 00:56:00,000 --> 00:56:03,160 no race is better than the other, stuff like that 736 00:56:03,160 --> 00:56:06,160 that we thought that we had it already understood, 737 00:56:06,160 --> 00:56:08,560 you know, like, we had it controlled. 738 00:56:08,560 --> 00:56:11,200 And now it's going in the wrong direction. 739 00:56:11,200 --> 00:56:12,960 So as a border artist, 740 00:56:12,960 --> 00:56:16,960 how do you relate to this binational existence? 741 00:56:16,960 --> 00:56:19,200 How does it affect your work? 742 00:56:19,200 --> 00:56:23,320 Well, it affects it and provokes it, you know? 743 00:56:23,320 --> 00:56:26,800 Like, I don't know another way of being. 744 00:56:26,800 --> 00:56:28,680 So it's very hard for me to explain it. 745 00:56:28,680 --> 00:56:31,400 You know, I've been here forever. 746 00:56:31,400 --> 00:56:35,120 I do not assume myself just as a border artist, 747 00:56:35,120 --> 00:56:38,320 but I'm not going to start denying something that is embedded in who I am. 748 00:56:38,320 --> 00:56:42,960 The current political situation has propelled Erre 749 00:56:42,960 --> 00:56:46,320 to return to an idea about Mexico's northern neighbour. 750 00:56:47,320 --> 00:56:50,040 I'm, er...trying to age this... 751 00:56:51,440 --> 00:56:54,040 ..piece of, er...fence 752 00:56:54,040 --> 00:56:56,120 so it is not that obvious 753 00:56:56,120 --> 00:56:58,720 that it's resembling the American flag. 754 00:57:00,160 --> 00:57:04,040 Stripes and Fence Forever - this the original work - 755 00:57:04,040 --> 00:57:09,240 is a comment about the lure of the United States losing its lustre. 756 00:57:09,240 --> 00:57:13,720 That crossing the border doesn't mean dreams come true. 757 00:57:13,720 --> 00:57:18,680 This flag represents the 50 states and the 30 old colonies. 758 00:57:18,680 --> 00:57:21,480 And then it's supposed to be a melting pot. Mm-hm. 759 00:57:21,480 --> 00:57:24,120 Seems to me that the pot is melting. Yeah. Definitely. 760 00:57:24,120 --> 00:57:25,480 Is what it looks like to me. 761 00:57:27,320 --> 00:57:29,960 Power and the proximity to power 762 00:57:29,960 --> 00:57:34,720 fires a creativity of artists working in Tijuana. 763 00:57:34,720 --> 00:57:39,760 In the 21st century, power and art are as inseparable as ever. 764 00:57:41,840 --> 00:57:46,400 Across a millennia, struggles for power have forged this country. 765 00:57:46,400 --> 00:57:50,640 And artists have been at the epicentre of each one. 766 00:57:53,320 --> 00:57:58,240 From projections of authority that held ancient civilisations together 767 00:57:58,240 --> 00:58:01,080 to creating a new national story 768 00:58:01,080 --> 00:58:04,560 and reinforcing Mexican identity, 769 00:58:04,560 --> 00:58:09,680 artists have themselves been the power brokers in Mexico's story. 770 00:58:12,800 --> 00:58:17,240 In the next episode, I explore how faith across the millennia 771 00:58:17,240 --> 00:58:19,240 has been dominated by art 772 00:58:19,240 --> 00:58:24,440 that underpinned and changed the very nature of belief.