Fundraising 2012/Translation/Alejandro appeal

Appeal

I started contributing to Wikipedia because of my wife. They say that a picture tells more than a thousand words, so we share both. She writes the articles, and I help with the images.

Together, we love traveling around Mexico, exploring the huge variety of places and cultures, traditions and cuisines… and documenting what we find so we can share it with you on Wikipedia.

In every place we visit, I always have favorite photos. The ones I share are the ones that really say something. They tell the story of a festival, or they show a custom or tradition.

As a visual artist, I know how powerful images can be. A photo can make you feel good or make you feel sad. It can change your whole way of thinking.

That’s why it's important to me to share my vision of Mexico. Now, people who had one image of Mexico at first, perhaps they'll see it differently. And in the same way, I want to discover other cultures; I want to learn how it works in other places.

Each person has their own special vision and their own favorite things. Wikipedia is based on knowledge, and it’s a way of making known the diversity that exists all over the world: traditions, cultures, foods, people.

If we share all of this, we will learn to know one another better — and perhaps understand ourselves better, too. Although we speak different languages, we can still learn to communicate.

— Alejandro Linares García

Bio

Alejandro Linares García lives in Mexico City, where he works as a graphic designer. Along with photography, he enjoys painting, sculpting and engraving. Alejandro and his wife Leigh have taken more than 10,000 photographs of Mexican villages, landmarks, festivals and more.