ABSTRACT
In 1938, Mexican photojournalist Enrique Díaz made a series of photographs at the General Motors (GM) Company trade show, known as the “Parade of Progress,” in Mexico City. Conceived as a mobile version of a World’s Fair, the Parade of Progress sought to bring displays of technological inventions to the public via a caravan of 33-foot-long GM “Streamliners” that paraded through the public streets. In Díaz’s photographs, models sport various traditional Mexican costumes while posing with elements of GM’s futuristic displays: the women demonstrate how to cook in a modern kitchen, or perch atop the streamlined surfaces of automobiles like the bikini-clad car models of later years. The composition of one of the most poignant images recalls the altar paintings of the Virgin Mary typical of New Spanish art. The benevolently smiling woman in Díaz’s photograph suggests a mother figure: an allegory for Mexico herself, striving to lead her country forward via the technological advancements made available at the cusp of the Mexican Miracle. The juxtaposition of these two icons—the virginal mother figure in her regional costume and the streamlined American automobile—symbolize the complexities of Mexico’s position in the late 1930s, straddled in between the spheres of indigenous tradition and imported modernity.
