Through his Facebook account, photographer Héctor Eduardo Baltazar Blanco offers a re-creation of historical events in Zacatecas, employing editing skills and a touch of literary creativity.
Like a thriller, he recounts historical facts and events compiled from prominent historians and chroniclers of the state. His posts begin with “Did you know…?” and the story unfolds immediately.
“First, I gather information—what I hear, what I see, and what I read from the historians in Zacatecas, who are very good—and from there, I came up with the idea for the project, using an image to transport the reader back to how it happened,” explained Héctor Eduardo.
He exemplified his work with how federal troops destroyed a building to prevent the delivery of weapons to the revolutionary leader Pancho Villa during the Battle of Zacatecas in the Mexican Revolution.
The photographer also recounts the experiences of the Cine Ilusión, located on Hidalgo Avenue in the Historic Center, and its tragic end in a fire, which he recreates in images also based on memories.
“I don’t have information on how much it burned, whether the fire consumed the front or back [of the cinema], so I thought, let’s recreate it,” the photographer explained.
He said the information comes from different sources. To tell these stories, he takes the original black and white photograph of the location and then recreates the space as it might have been at that time.
“I try to create a historical thriller because if it’s just told online it’s very boring, so you have to narrate it to draw the reader into the image,” he explained.
Héctor explained that he didn’t expect his photographic project to gain such widespread recognition. The project is also aimed at new generations so they can learn about the history of Zacatecas and its historical context.
Source: ntrzacatecas
