A peeling, painted billboard advertises high street fashions—crisply creased trousers, pleated skirts, and fashionable footwear—to the upwardly mobile, attesting to the emergence of consumerism. The text of the advertisement, “Barato Inimitable” (“Cheap and Unbeatable”), reveals the forces of industrialization and globalization driving the availability of consumer goods. Above, the electrician’s signage hints at the labor and technology behind Mexico’s modernization. The photograph is pervaded by an air of mystery, both revealing the subtle textures and rhythms of daily life and probing the unseen. Here, the disembodied legs in stride suggest a society on the move. But who are they, and where are they going? “Siempre has creído que en el viejo centro de la ciudad no vive nadie. Caminas con lentitud, tratando de distinguir el número 815 en este conglomerado de viejos palacios coloniales convertidos en talleres de reparación, relojerías, tiendas de zapatos y expendios de aguas frescas. Las nomenclaturas han sido revisadas, superpuestas, confundidas. El 12 junto al 200, el antiguo azulejo numerado—47—encima de la nueva advertencia pintada con tiza: ahora 924.” “You will be surprised to imagine that someone lives in Donceles Street. You have always believed that no one lives in the old centre of the city. You walk slowly, trying to distinguish number 815 in this conglomerate of old colonial palaces converted to workshops, watchmakers, cobblers, and outlets for bottled water. The numbers have been revised, overlaid, confused. 13 next to 200, the numbered blue tiles—47—above the new placard written with chalk: now 924.” Carlos Fuentes Aura (1962)