University Library News Release

Date: February 1, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Jeanette Smith, NMSU Library, (505) 646-7492, jcsmith@lib.nmsu.edu

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Library Employee Dennis Daily Exhibits Photos

"Ritual, Desire and Death," a photography exhibit at the University Art Gallery, features the work of Library employee Dennis Daily, as well as Mary Wolf and Dick George. The exhibit is being displayed free to the public at NMSU's Williams Hall through February 26.

While the work of each artist differs in subject matter, each provides commentary on social themes in the Hispanic community. Daily's work, an ongoing documentary about the Virgin of Guadalupe processions in the Durango, Mexico, area effectively combines sound recordings and videos as well as photographs.

In interviews with KIVA-TV and the Round Up, Daily said that working on the project has given him a deeper appreciation for the culture of Durango, Mexico, as well as Mexico in general. "It has been striking to me how important community ritual is to the people," he said. "These traditions illustrate Mexico's history as a metaphor to the Spanish and indigenous culture."

Daily is the manager of archival reprographics for the Library's Archives & Special Collections Department. He lived in Durango while working on the Library's Durango Microfilming Project. For more information on the exhibit, contact Daily at (505) 646-4727.

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