Juan Carlos Reyes

(Mexico)

Juan Carlos Reyes is an Oaxacan documentary photographer with more than 30 years of experience, whose passion is to contribute to the biocultural memory of Oaxaca Mexico through photographic documentation of its landscape and customs.
He has documented environmental and nature conservation issues as he has worked with international organizations such as the Forest Stewardship Council FSC in Germany, Poland, Malaysia, and Mexico. He is the author of the book “The Women Who Did Not Leave” with the Oaxacan Women Institute in 2003.

He has collaborated on books such as Women, Work, and Health from the Sociological Research Institute of the Benito Juárez Autonomous University of Oaxaca published in 2001; Memorial of Grievances Oaxaca 2006 of Traffickers of Dreams in 2009; The Barbaric Mexico of the 21st Century Accumulation of UAS/UAM Capital. His work is in the José F. Gómez collection of the Álvarez Bravo Photography Center.
He is a member of the National System of Mexican Creators.

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Guardians of Mother Language

The indigenous language is among the forms of expression of intangible heritage in the world. It is therefore important to be aware that as indigenous languages disappear, the culture and identity of large numbers of indigenous people also disappear. The main objective of this project is to make a series of portraits, and audio postcards as well as a documentary record that shows the environment of these communities and preserves the identity of the inhabitants: indigenous people who fight not to let their mother tongue die. According to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography, INEGI, the state with the largest indigenous population in Mexico is Oaxaca, located in the south of the country, and is characterized by having a higher percentage of speakers of indigenous languages, at the national level Oaxaca concentrates 16.6% of the population speaking an indigenous language with 15 mother tongues.