Pedro Valtierra

(b. 1955, Fresnillo, Mexico; lives and works in Mexico City)

Naked miners strike in Pachuca, Mexico, 1985
Two photographs (exhibition prints), dimensions variable
Courtesy of the artist and Cuartoscuro.com

In 1985, gold miners in Pachuca—Real del Monte in Mexico came out on strike. They numbered 3,500 people, of whom more than fifty chose to undress in protest at the tough conditions of their work. In particular, the management company did not provide the miners with the necessary overalls and masks, leading to a high mortality rate. The miners had to filter dust through their scarves or flannel cloths in order to breathe. They told a reporter from La Jornada newspaper that their nudity symbolized their descent into the mine as being like going to hell, a direct reference to Christian iconography of the underworld, where sinners are always naked. The paradoxical nature of a naked strike for the right to receive work clothes had an effect, and many of the workers’ demands were met. For Pedro Valtierra, the famous Mexican documentary photographer (and a co-founder of La Jornada, where these pictures were first published), Gold Miners from Pachuca de Soto would become a signature work. In the context of the “birthday suit” theme in The Fabric of Felicity, this work is interesting for being a political rather than an artistic decision. Nudity here is a synonym for extreme poverty and honesty: the workers have nothing to conceal and nothing to lose.