Death and Disruption in the Photography of the Decena Tragica

This essay takes as its focus the intense violence of the Decena Trágica(Tragic Ten Days), a short, brutal episode in the armed Revolution, where the coup to overthrow President Francisco I. Madero in February 1913 brought the chaos and destruction of war into the centre of Mexico City. The visual link between the Mexican Revolution and death will be explored, assessing whether such imagery could be seen to provide a counterpoint to the hegemonic ‘official’ vision of the Mexican Revolution that was employed in the shaping of Mexican national identity in the period of national reconstruction that followed its military phase.