PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – Palm Springs Art Museum announces a new exhibition of graphic design from Mexico’s past and present to examine the field’s development during the past century and its role in the country’s popular culture. The exhibition, Eso es la vida/This is life, includes examples of posters, typography and sign-painting, as well as video and digital media that reveal visual communication as a vital facet of everyday life. It runs from August 12 through November 27 at the museum’s Architecture and Design Center, Edwards Harris Pavilion.

Eso es la vida brings foundational figures such as Jose Guadalupe Posada and the Taller de Grafica Popular into dialog with contemporary practitioners including Estudio Herrera, the Red de Reproduccion y Distribucion, Carla Valdivia Nakatani and others. Beginning with the state efforts to create a new national public after the Mexican Revolution, the exhibition recounts a history leading to contemporary design that complicates any simple sense of national identity or visual style.

“Eso es la vida/This is Life offers a window into the creative work of graphic designers in Mexico in the 20th century and today,” said curator Robert J. Kett. “These projects show how design can be used to many ends — from supporting the work of the state and crafting national identities to protesting injustices and supporting the daily lives of communities. I hope the exhibition illustrates graphic design’s deep social importance and how the field has always included so much more than what exists within the boundaries of the European and American canon.”

The exhibition is curated by Robert J. Kett, PhD, Assistant Professor, Design Anthropology at Art Center College of Design and Adjunct Curator of Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center.

Visit the website of the Palm Springs Art Museum and see its dedicated page for Eso es la vida/This is life.