LaredoBuzz.Com

Courtesy Xochitl Mora,

Color photo exhibit to run through end of August

 (Laredo, TX  July 26, 2010)  “They are coming here to escape war,” said Barbara Steinberg, an amateur photo artist whose first photo exhibit, “The True Story of Mexican Immigration to the United States,” is on display until the end of August at the Laredo Public Library.  “Just like any other immigrant wave in the history of the United States, they are coming to escape the horrors that war has created in their country:  devastating poverty, starvation, fear and lack of hope.” 

 Tired of the lies and distortion of facts being promoted by ill-informed, fear-mongering and often, racist, TV and radio talk shows hosts, Steinberg went in search of a way to tell this very compelling story, because, as she put it, “I can.  I don’t live in fear of losing my job or being killed in trying to tell this story that needs to be told.”  She hopes the exhibit will not only open people’s eyes to the true reason for the mass exodus of Mexicans into the United States, but also, to the consequences of not accepting them into the United States. 

 “Before the start of World War II, a ship called the S.S. St. Louis came to the United States, loaded with over 900 Jews escaping the terror and persecution of the Nazis.  However, they were refused entry into the United States and were forced to return to Germany.  Of course, we all know what happened to them,” she added.

 The photos were taken over a three-month period in both the United States (Mirando City, Sanderson, TX and Laredo Ranchettes) and Mexico (Nuevo Laredo) and Steinberg was surprised to see that often times, the immigrants were living in the same exact economic conditions in the United States as they were in Mexico; however, the difference is the hope and lack of fear evident in the Mexican immigrants faces, compared to the total desperation and fear she saw on the faces of those living in Mexico.

 “That was very powerful for me because the truth is always revealed in people’s faces,” Steinberg said.  “However, I didn’t want to put any of my value judgment into the exhibit, so I conferred with many individuals from Mexico and the United States, who wish to remain anonymous, about what I captured.  They all agreed with me.” 

 The full-color photos were taken with a Canon Digital SLR EOS Mark 2 camera, with a 400 pixel zoom lens or regular lens for close-up.  They are all truly candid photos, “shots of real life, not staged,” as the artist puts it.  An online community manager by profession, Steinberg took an interest in photography and developed it to be able to take pictures that tell a story.  “I didn’t want to do landscapes and portraits,” she laughs.  A native New Yorker, Steinberg is married to Rabbi Elliot Rosenbaum, of Laredo’s Congregation Agudas Achim.

 “This show is in honor of a father who crossed the Rio Grande to save his son.  I would especially like to thank the editor, photographic assistant and the writer for their help with this important project.  The exhibit has allowed me to be able to stand up for equality and the people of Mexico here in Laredo, which is now my home,” Steinberg concluded.    

 Steinburg also created the exhibit to pay tribute to her father, the late conductor Benjamin Steinberg, who created the first integrated orchestra in the United States of America called The Symphony of the New World.