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After five years photographing Mexico’s boxing culture, visual artist, filmmaker and photographer David Hanes-González brings No Te Dejes to the Latino Cultural Center in Dallas. The immersive mixed-media exhibition opens August 29, 2026, and remains on view through October 9, 2026, examining boxing not simply as sport, but as a space of faith, sacrifice, heritage, discipline and survival. The Dallas presentation also extends beyond the gallery. As part of the exhibition’s community programming, the Latino Cultural Center is developing a photography activation with Dallas-Mexico Casa Guanajuato and GTO Boxing Club in Oak Cliff, connecting the work directly with local Mexican, boxing and photography communities. Through photography, film, sound and large-scale installation, Hanes-González brings together the visual languages of the boxing gym and religious devotion. The exhibition considers the rituals surrounding the sport: the prayers before a fight, the repetition of training, the fear carried into the ring, the sacrifices made outside of it and the faith required to continue. “NO TE DEJES.” A WARNING. A BLESSING. A COMMAND. In the ring, the phrase means do not back down. In life, it becomes something larger: do not give in. Do not allow fear to take your will, and do not let the world break what you believe in. The gallery environment is influenced equally by the boxing gyms and devotional spaces Hanes-González has encountered throughout Mexico. Photography is presented alongside installations referencing the boxing ring, religious altars and the Stations of the Cross, creating a visual dialogue between physical struggle and spiritual endurance. “Boxing became a way for me to understand Mexico beyond the sport itself,” says Hanes-González. “Inside these gyms, I kept finding the same things I recognized in my own family: faith, sacrifice, discipline and the willingness to keep moving forward even when life gives you every reason not to. No Te Dejes is ultimately about that refusal to give in.” CONNECTING THE EXHIBITION TO DALLAS’ BOXING COMMUNITY The community photography activation being developed with Dallas-Mexico Casa Guanajuato and GTO Boxing Club is intended to bring a small group of local participants into an active Oak Cliff boxing environment. Hanes-González will lead a session focused on the art of photographing boxing, with participants documenting training and sparring while learning to capture not only movement and action, but also the emotion, atmosphere and culture surrounding the sport. Located in Oak Cliff, Casa Guanajuato serves the surrounding community through cultural, recreational and civic programming. The collaboration is designed as an exchange between the exhibition, local fighters and emerging photographers while celebrating the culture from which the work originates. Additional community and boxing partners are being explored to support outreach and educational opportunities connected to the exhibition. A PERSONAL RETURN TO MEXICO Born in Chicago to a Mexican mother and American father, Hanes-González has spent the past several years living and working in Mexico City, returning to the culture that shaped his family while exploring his own relationship with identity, faith and belonging. Rather than focusing solely on champions or professional competition, he turns his camera toward the quieter moments surrounding the sport: young fighters training before their first bouts, coaches passing knowledge between generations, family members waiting ringside, neighborhood gyms serving as gathering spaces, religious imagery watching over fighters and the everyday rituals through which boxing is inherited. The result is a portrait of boxing as a reflection of Mexican life. ABOUT DAVID HANES-GONZÁLEZ David Hanes-González is a Chicago-born visual artist, filmmaker and photographer based in Mexico City. His practice explores the intersection of sport, spirituality, identity and cultural heritage through documentary photography, filmmaking and visual storytelling. His work has been exhibited internationally, including presentations at the Embassy of Mexico in Uruguay, the Consulate General of Mexico in Raleigh, the Latino Cultural Center in Dallas, LOOT Gallery in Mexico City and the Laemmle NoHo 7 Theater in Los Angeles. His photography and stories have been featured by NPR, WePresent by WeTransfer, Huck Magazine, Trippin, La Jornada, El Economista and Errr Magazine, among others. In 2025, Hanes-González was selected for Mexico’s Cultural Offer Catalog 2025–2026 through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has also been recognized by La Plataforma de Imágenes Contemporáneas of La Central de la Imagen. EXHIBITION DETAILS | NO TE DEJES | | | Artist: David Hanes-Gonzalez | | | Dates: August 29 – October 9 | | | Venue: Latino Cultural Center | | | Address: 2600 Live Oak Street, Dallas, TX 75204 |