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Sixty Years Through An American Lens in Mexico
April, 2009
At the age of 24 George Doe Miller - an Iowa native - was one of thousands of American soldiers who landed on the beaches of Normandy in 1944 as part of the Allied resistance against Hitler's invasion of Europe. A month into battle, the young lieutenant suffered a gun shot to his right leg and was sent back to the United States where he was awarded the Purple Star for bravery under fire.
The war eventually ended and Miller, like all his fellow combatants, had to readjust to leading a normal life. Five years went by and Miller found himself in Mexico where he started a family and where his sixty-year love of photography took seed.
Mexico was a different world to the mid-American landscape that Miller grew up on. It offered so much geographical and cultural variety he was compelled to document his experiences onto celluloid. The young American found himself as a foreigner in a strange land but one that was also a neighbor and it dawned on him how little his countrymen knew or cared of what lied south of the border. Taking photos, according to Miller, was part of the learning process about undertstanding - and appreciating - his adopted-home country. Sixty years and some six thousand images later, the octogenarian's work is being celebrated in a retrospective at the Museo Archivo de la Fotografia (MAF) - the capital's historical museum for photography.
The exhibition will showcase 80 images of Miller's work spanning his life in Mexico since he arrived in 1949. Today, at the age of 89, the war veteran is still taking photographs. Muesuem director Estela Treviño describes Miller's work as "historically fascinating ... he was traveling all across the country and taking photos at the same time. There weren't many photographers during the fifties who were documenting all of Mexico like that," she said.
Miller began his career as an amateur. Working for the pharmaceutical company Sidney Ross he had to travel to many cities in the north of Mexico.
"I bought a Leica in Guadalajara which was a very expensive camera at the time. It wasn't an easy piece of equipment to use and I had to work hard in getting the results I wanted out of it. Because of my work I ended up driving through northern states such as Chihuahua, Sonora, Coahuila, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas ... I saw incredible landscapes that really caught my attention," recalled Miller.
The photo bug just wouldn't let go. Finding life on the road taking its toll, Miller decided to pursue what he enjoyed doing most which was being behind the lens of a camera. He took a job as the official photographer for the San Angel Inn restaurant which is one of Mexico City's most venerated and oldest eating establishments (it was formerly a hacienda and a monastery) and took photos of celebrities such as Joe Di Maggio, Richard Nixon and the grand dame of Mexican cinema Maria Felix.
By 1966 he had set up his own photo studio in the Colonia Del Valle in the heart of Mexico City and continued to work as a professional photographer until it closed its doors in 2006. During his time at the studio, Miller also took a keen interest in documenting visiting foreign dignitaries most notably the trips of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh.
Thanks to his daughter, Frances, Miller's massive body of work came to light when she introduced the historian Xavier Guzman Urbiola to her father's archives. Guzman was astonished at the quality of the material considering how old some of the photos were. He sought out MAF Director Estela Treviño who immediately recognized the potency of Miller's work and set out about sifting through the six thousand odd images to come up with this retrospective.
"George Miller according to his daughter always liked to work alone ... and perhaps that's why he hasn't received any constructive criticism till now ... his work demonstrates a degree of sophistication and subtlety that is surprising from someone who is self-taught," said Guzman. "What is certain is he has managed to capture in detail Mexico's transition from a rural to an industrial economy and that in itself lends an illuminating insight to the development of this country in the past fifty years," he added.
"La Vision de George Miller" (The Vision of George Miller) will run from April 25 at the Museo Archivo de la Fotografia (MAF), República de Guatemala # 34, Col. Centro, Mexico City
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