![Cross of Chalma/[Cruce de Chalma]](/api/proxy-image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.getty.edu%2Fiiif%2Fimage%2Fcc3322f2-2634-49f1-9692-a3a413067573%2Ffull%2F808%2C%2F0%2Fdefault.jpg)
Getty Museum
Cross of Chalma/[Cruce de Chalma]
Creator
Manuel Álvarez BravoMexican Photographer · 1902–2002
All works by this person →A self-taught photographer, Manuel Alvarez Bravo purchased his first camera at age twenty while working at a government job. His earliest success at photography came around 1925, when he won first prize in a local photographic competition in Oaxaca. He returned to Mexico City, where he had been born, and in 1927 met Tina Modotti, who introduced him to a lively intellectual and cultural environment
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- 1942
- Medium
- Gelatin silver print
- Culture
- Mexican
- Department
- Photographs
- Institution
- Getty Museum
- Object ID
- 446e6b13-3256-4228-be21-29e5524d80d5
Palm leaves, flowers, ribbons, and paper ornaments decorate this roadside shrine in Chalma, a pilgrimage site not far from Mexico City. Like many of Manuel Alvarez Bravo's photographs, this image explores the devotional aspect of Mexico's daily life. Since the 1500s pilgrims have been visiting Chalma, where a miracle is believed to have taken place. Christian missionaries, eager to convert the indigenous people, persuaded them to renounce their worship of Otzocteotl, a deity to whom they offered prayers and sacrifices. The miracle occurred when the venerated statue was found shattered and in its place rose a crucified figure. Though nearly five hundred years have passed, Christians still make pilgrimages to the site. In illustrating how the pilgrims mark their route, Alvarez Bravo's photograph reveals the rustic accoutrements of a cultural tradition.
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