To offer answers to the inexplicable questions of the world, the human being invented faith. With faith came the rite, which later became tradition and then formalized into religion, or vice versa. The truth is that, although human, to this day mountains are moved by the beliefs that give direction and sustenance to existence.

For three years, from 2012 to 2015, the renowned photographer José Hernández-Claire dedicated himself to documenting popular traditions around religion in Jalisco, a work that is included in the book “Faith, rites and traditions in Jalisco”.

Hernández-Claire goes beyond the mere act of faith and discovers an elemental substrate related to all beliefs. In front of his lens, Catholics and Protestants alike parade, emboldened with the same substance to achieve the promise of a life beyond death. Among saints, pilgrimages and songs raised to heaven, the book becomes a journey through the fervor that awakens the conviction of what is not seen, in the words of Saint Paul himself.

Text taken from Cuartoscuro magazine

A short trip to Asia allowed don José to try a different perspective of photography, this time he tried color pictures to show the excitement of brilliant colors in China. 

The face of migration in Mexico, are photographic compilations of a whole year, which thanks to the luck of encountering unique experiences, the photographer was able to unite and expose them. Each of them carries a story, some of despair, others tragic, of animals and humans that express the pain that many have left there, and show the obstacles that must be overcome. However, they all have a common characteristic, since they are at the point where two countries unite and separate, and where they must pass alive to fulfill their dreams and illusions.

Borders such as Baja California, Chihuahua and Sonora were the settings to portray those countrymen who only carry with them their yearnings to live, and their family present in some photos or in their mind. Families, young people, children, pregnant women, animals killed by the heat of the sun, was what the lens of José Hernández Claire captured. This is how this unprecedented exhibition in our country has arrived in our city, where it will stay for a few weeks to the pleasure of all lovers of photographic art.