Courtesy Christine Konig Gallerie, Vienna

Javier Ramirez Limon, Quinceanera with Honor Couple (2006). C-print, 24 x 37 in.

December 2008 Field Guide

Anri Sala

Predrive: After Technology

Experimenta Folklore

Indian Art

Mark Manders

Klara Liden

Andre Kertesz: On Reading

Ron Arad

Pipilotti Rist

Transpop: Korea Vietnam Remix

Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans

Ree Morton

Emotional Drawing

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The phrase "the American dream" gets bandied about with renewed ferocity every election cycle, as politicians scramble to prove who is more committed to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. (Or is it home ownership, your own reality-TV show, and the right to bear an AK-47?) Mexican artist Javier Ramirez Limon presents his own take in two photographic series that address the American dreams of Mexican immigrants. The first depicts the remote Sonoran desert on the US/Mexico border, where hundreds of Mexicans die each year trying to cross the hostile landscape. These black-and-white images are juxtaposed with his "Mexican Quinceanera" series, color shots of 15-year-old girls on the awkward threshold of adulthood. The girls, encased in ruffled dresses and hair spray, all live in San Diego, they or their immigrant parents having completed that crucial first step in making any dream come true: survival.

"Javier Ramirez Limon" originally appeared in the December 2008 / January issue of Modern Painters. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Modern Painters' December 2008 / January 2009 Table of Contents.