Aliento a Tequila Opens at the Branigan Cultural Center

The Branigan Cultural Center is excited to announce a new exhibit, Aliento a Tequila (The Spirit of Tequila), featuring 39 photographs by Joel Salcido that explore and celebrate the landscape, culture, and traditions that gave birth to tequila. The exhibit opens on Friday, May 2, and runs through Saturday, August 9, 2025. An opening reception is scheduled from 5-7 p.m. on Friday, May 2, 2025.

The photographs in Aliento a Tequila include blue agave fields, the original distilleries that literally founded the tequila industry, and several artisanal tequileras committed to the ancestral ways of making tequila from harvest to bottle.

Agave dates to the Aztec civilization and was an important crop in Mexico. Since the 1600s, the people of western Mexico have cultivated blue agave from the red volcanic soil that blankets the region, to make what we know as tequila. Salcido traveled across Mexico’s state of Jalisco capturing images of distilleries and artisanal tequileras; blue agave fields at sunset; the agave’s pineapple-like centers, called piñas; elegantly shadowed barrel rooms, called añejos; and the agave farmers themselves.

Salcido’s photographs, together with the bilingual Spanish/English text, reveal not only the tequila making process but also the region’s traditions of culture and religion. Aliento a Tequila celebrates a craft that is rooted deep in the culture of Mexico and connects viewers with the labor and place that produces this popular spirit.

The exhibition was curated by Roy L. Flukinger, Independent Curator Emeritus and Past Senior Curator of Photography of the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin. Aliento a Tequila is organized by ExhibitsUSA, a program of Mid-America Arts Alliance and The National Endowment for the Arts.

The Branigan Cultural Center is located at 501 N. Main St. and is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. There is no admission charge. The museum is accessible from Roadrunner Transit Route 1 Stop 1. For additional information, visit the website at https://www.lascruces.gov/museums or call (575) 541-2154 / TTY 711.