St. Paul is a diverse city, with a long and complicated history.
A piece of that history will be on full display when the Minnesota Historical Society opens a new photography exhibit on September 23rd called AMVETS Post #5: Photographs by Xavier Aavera. The exhibit will be on display at the MN History Center just outside of downtown St. Paul.
(Also opening this day is the exhibit “Renewing What They Gave Us: Native American Artists in Residence.” Read our preview here.)
Photographer Xavier Tavera was born in Mexico City. He’s lived in the Twin Cities since 1996. His portraits are part of permanent collections in the Weisman Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Plains Art Museum, the Minnesota Historical Society, as well as exhibited on both a traveling and permanent basis internationally.
His portraits here capture a story that is often overlooked throughout the Twin Cities.
Featuring 35 large scale, color portraits of Mexican and Mexican-American Veterans, all members of VFW Post #5, it’s the story of proud U.S. soldiers who were unable to join their brothers-in-arms after the fighting was over: Post #5 was born out of the rejection of Vietnam Veterans from other Posts: “When we tried to join the VFW clubs, [the] American Legions, they said no,” says St. Paul veteran Gilbert De la O.
This lead to the creation of the post by Mexican and Mexican-American war veterans that resided in St. Paul.
The Post #5 series of photographs was originally created in 2013 to document the veterans that fought in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. The purpose of the series is best summed up by Tavera himself, “My purpose in photographing war veterans is not to romanticize them as war heroes but to focus on telling the stories of men and women who came back from conflict. I hope to bring some awareness regarding how difficult the process of returning from war is on the veterans.”
The exhibit runs September 23, 2017 through April 22, 2018.
The exhibit will be presented Spanish and English. It’s free of charge when you pay the regular History Center admission of $12 for adults, $10 for seniors/veterans/active military/college students, $6 for children ages 5 to 17. There is no charge for children 4 and younger, and for MNHS Members.
The Minnesota History Center is located at 345 Kellogg Blvd. W. in St. Paul.
Hours:
Monday: Closed (Unless a holiday, then open 10am to 5pm)
Tuesday: 10am to 8pm (admission is free from 3pm to 8pm)
Wednesday: 10am to 5pm
Thursday: 10am to 5pm
Friday: 10am to 5pm
Saturday: 10am to 5pm
Sunday: Noon to 5pm
(Read more: press release)
