Mexico City was badly damaged in the deadly 7.1 magnitude September 19 earthquake, and although aid poured into the city, the hard-hit villages were left to cope alone until volunteers from Israeli humanitarian aid nonprofit IsraAID suddenly turned up. “IsraAID was the first group to offer help to our village,” said a resident of Hueyapan in the Mexican state of Morelos, one of the areas most affected by the recent earthquakes.

Though Mexico and the U.S. may not have had the most amicable relationship throughout history, one positive cultural phenomenon that came out of their contentious relationship was the emergence of modern Mexican art. The upcoming exhibition “Mexico Modern: Art, Commerce, and Cultural Exchange, 1920–1945” at The University of Texas at Austin not only reveals the cultural exchange between Mexico and the U.S, but also exhibits how Mexican art and design gained international attention.