Interview: Jonathan Blaustein

From the series "The Value of a Dollar" © Jonathan Blaustein

Jonathan Blaustein is an artist, writer, and educator based in Taos, New Mexico. He has exhibited his work widely in the US, and his photographs reside in several important collections, including the Library of Congress, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Jonathan writes about photography for A Photo Editor and The New York Times Lens blog, and has taught at the University of New Mexico-Taos for many years.

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From the series "The Value of a Dollar" © Jonathan Blaustein

fototazo: Your body of work "The Value of a Dollar" went viral after a feature on The New York Times' Lens blog. Millions of people saw the project, a body of photographs that raises questions about food production, distribution and consumption. After having that experience, I'm wondering about the arc of your own belief in the power of photography during your career. Do you believe differently in photography's power to effect social or political change or to effect change in collective consciousness now than you did when you started your career?

Jonathan Blaustein: It was a completely unique experience, going viral, when it happened to me. I had no frame of reference. Luckily, someone I trust suggested I document the phenomenon via screen grabs. I captured the whole arc, as it was happening. There were message boards calling me a genius, and others that thought I was an idiot for buying blueberries out of season.

Dialogue was created, which was definitely a step beyond what I thought was possible, when I was playing around with these food items in my studio. In the moment, back in 2010, I felt like it was a massive achievement.

Now, four years later, I'm not so sure. We consume media in a disposable fashion, just like we consume food. It's here, we love it, and then we forget about it the next day. So I'm very reluctant to believe that these types of situations have a lasting impact on culture.

Clearly, images dominate culture in a massive way. The James Foley video, and attendant screen grabs, are proof of that. They scared millions, if not billions, of people shitless. As was their intent.

But with art, I think very, very few things actually make a difference, in the long term. Andy Warhol. Picasso. August Sander. People like that resonate decades later. I'm not expecting to have that kind of impact, unless I get exceptionally lucky.

From the series "The Value of a Dollar" © Jonathan Blaustein

f: In "The Value of a Dollar" you photograph a dollar's worth of different food products as purchased, minus the wrapper. The images contrast sharply with the glamorized advertising shots used to sell these same products. In another interview, you've talked about how the visual language of those advertising images is "a huge driver for America's obesity epidemic."

There's been a movement towards presenting models in advertising, especially women, without extreme Photoshop nips and tucks as a way to encourage a healthier understanding of our bodies and a reality-based construction of our ideals.

Do you ultimately think food industry advertising photography crosses ethical lines and should be subjected to the same types of campaigns for reform? And more broadly, what do you think about how the conversational threads around the body and advertising relate to your project and interest in the food industry? I'm thinking here of things like the power of images to coerce, the ability of the public to separate photographic truth and fiction, the possibility for photography to show truth at all even without post-production, and the right to create images, even if they potentially create negative social effects.

From the series "The Value of a Dollar" © Jonathan Blaustein

JB: I like to show the TVOAD pictures to my students at the beginning of every semester. They always want to eat the Mickey D's burger, and, to a person, they know that what they see in the media is not true. It's a given, to them. That's why it's so amazing that advertising imagery is effective, and proof that it subverts the conscious mind.

I don't know if I'd say the practice is unethical, because the advertising industry is not driven by ethics at all. It's not immoral, it's amoral. It's only about getting people to consume more than they otherwise would. And if it didn't work, it wouldn't underwrite almost all of the content we absorb every day. (Though I suppose the HBO/Netflix model of pay-for-what-you-want does have some legs.)

Of course the way fashion models are presented, much less when they're photoshopped, has a very negative effect on young girls sense of self. Women too. And you're right to compare it to the way food advertising shapes their bodies as well. One set of images seduces them to eat more, the other makes them feel like shit for not being able to meet the standard. When they feel like shit, they eat more.

I'm currently working on a new project that looks very specifically at the way advertising imagery is constructed to speak to our basest instincts. It's pretty remarkable what's being beamed into our homes these days, if you take a moment to look.

From the series "The Value of a Dollar" © Jonathan Blaustein

f: "The Value of a Dollar" and your follow-up project "MINE" in which you photograph objects encountered on land you own in New Mexico are both projects in which you've isolated and photographed the objects apart from their original context. You've chosen to photograph the objects in your studio instead of the stores where you found the items or the objects you encountered in the landscape. What does stripping context and bringing the objects into the studio give the projects?

JB: It's funny. I was talking to a photographer, Brad Wilson, in Santa Fe last week. He just photographed wild animals in the studio. He gave me the same speech I've given others, about how animals in nature have been done to death, and people always think of Nick Brandt. He wanted to try something that felt more original.

For me, when I began TVOAD, I wanted to try to make pictures that didn't look like what I'd seen before. And I had clearly seen photos of food in other contexts, though it was still relatively rare as a subject for fine art investigation. That's changed, in the last six years, as food became a hot topic in the Zeitgeist.

But the real answer is that to combat the linguistics of advertising imagery, it was really important for me to decontextualize. To be "objective," to the best of my ability. Even though most educated artists know that word is practically unusable.

I used my studio table, as it was, and the walls behind it, as they were. The clean aesthetic was an inside joke, as my studio was in fact filthy. But I wanted them to seduce as art, as a way of drawing attention to the seductive power of the types of images I was critiquing.

It was also a big part of the concept that I photograph the items as they "actually" were. The studio gave me the space to do that, almost like a laboratory.

And it was also a big part of my shooting practice. To bring them into my space, which I could control, and then play around. Make shapes. And stare very deeply at what I was photographing. That was my secret: I gave myself a headache from looking so hard.

You can't really do that in the outside world. That's for real life. The studio is for thinking and commenting. For processing reality, at least for me.

From the series "MINE" © Jonathan Blaustein

f: There's lots of stuff in a store you could have used for "The Value of a Dollar," lots on your land you could have used for "MINE" and lots in your studio that could have been part of your most recent project, "The Mindless Consumption of Animals," which attempts to commodify some of the detritus that built up during eight years in your studio space before you moved out of it. What are the criteria you use for selecting the objects for your still lives from all the options available to you?

JB: This one's easy. Instinct. In my practice, I like to combine the structure of a conceptual underpinning with the freedom to make choices in the moment. Really, the process is akin to shopping. (Which I literally did for TVOAD.)

I look, I think, I make decisions based upon ideas that pop into my head. It's thinking about symbolism, aesthetics, humor, all sorts of things. But I would be hard pressed to enjoy making art if all the decisions were dictated beforehand by an overly-rigid concept.

From the series "MINE" © Jonathan Blaustein

f: In an excellent recent interview of Mishka Henner you put together for A Photo Editor, you said, "If your work doesn't have any sort of political undertone, then you're not really saying anything."

It made me remember a contrarian quote by Henri Matisse:

What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity, devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter, an art which could be for every mental worker, for the businessman as well as the man of letters, for example, a soothing, calming influence on the mind, something like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.  

Your quote seems to leave little space for his conception of art. To make it specific to photography, your quote seems to suggest photography that stays largely on a level of pleasing harmony of form or that works with content that avoids a political tone or undertone doesn’t create any conversation of consequence. Is that a fair interpretation of your perspective? Can you explain more about your position?

JB: I'm glad to see that people are paying specific attention to what I spout off about in these interviews. As I just wrote to you via email, the interviews are highly improvisational, and I do like to make strong, declarative statements.

Since you're giving me a mulligan, I'll specify here that art can be made for any number of reasons. That's the beauty of it. Anything goes, including things that lack the aspiration to challenge a viewer in any way. I live in a town where "making art" often means standing at a painter's easel, outside, looking at a mountain, and making an impressionist version of that.

That's a practice that was innovative at the time of Matisse's compatriot, Claude Monet. But it has been sucked of almost any and all possible juice, with respect to making art I might call "good."

So I suppose what I meant was that great art, important art, brings a powerful POV to the table. It grasps for innovation and original thinking. It attempts to ask big questions about relevant issues. And it is careful not to steal too much of the soul of what's come before. (Stealing just enough is the tricky part.)

Great art need not be political, but things made just to please are rarely powerful, unless they're innovating. Or contemplating metaphysics. Matisse himself was an innovator in his use of color, form, and even in his subject matter, like the Odalisques. The Abstract Expressionists were radical at the time, though of course they referenced Mondrian, Malevich and Cezanne.

When I see an Ab-Ex-style painting made in 2014, even if it's pretty, I'm very unlikely to give a shit.

From the series "MINE" © Jonathan Blaustein

f: Another quote of yours from the Henner interview I'd like to push you on: "That’s what drives contemporary art, at its best, is the desire to figure out what the fuck is going on out there."

I don't want to suggest that it's an exclusive either/or situation, but this quote raised for me the eternal question of visual art's ability to figure out reality and state a concrete position in relation to, on the other hand, its strength for simply asking questions. What's your belief in visual art being able to speak exactly enough as a language to ask and answer the kinds of specific political, cultural and social questions that allow us to figure out what the fuck is going on?

JB: Figuring out what's going on is an inherently investigative process. That's why I specified the "desire" to figure things out. I've said many times, as have others, that it is about asking questions. No one has all the answers. But a curiosity to know more, to educate oneself through the creative process, is vital.

That's why symbolism is so powerful. Things that are too didactic, or too obvious, rarely capture someone's imagination long enough for them to ponder. Or feel confused. Or angry. Or blissed out.

But as a professional opinion giver, I do try to challenge my audience through my pseudo-journalism. I believe if more artists pushed themselves harder, there would be more great work out there.

From the series "MINE" © Jonathan Blaustein

f: Perhaps a related question. You worked on a cultural landscape project in Southern Colorado, but put it aside because you had "a hard time making the pictures what I wanted them to be." Does the studio allow you to control photography as a visual language more than work created outside the studio?

JB: Definitely. It does. But I happen to be working on a project at present that's forcing me back into my archives. I've found that five years later, there are photos from that series in Colorado that I really like. Certainly, individual images were successful.

But to give you a short answer, for once, I do find that the control of the studio environment works well for me.

Installation view © Jonathan Blaustein

f: I'm looking here at installation views of "MINE" in which you've grouped images and created an inverted triangle and other geometrical shapes with the photographs on the wall. How do you think about the installation and presentation of your images as you lay them out on a wall? Are you emphasizing ideas and themes of the photographs themselves in the layout of them in space?

JB: Absolutely. It's something I've tried to incorporate into my exhibitions, a thoughtful design. For the "MINE" solo show, I just started sketching out shapes on scratch paper.

Within a short span of time, I came up with a repeating pattern that resembled Mayan hieroglyphs. Given the primal nature of the symbols I was using, and my appreciation for ancient Meso-American architecture, I thought it was perfect.

Then, for a show in Derby, England, I did the same thing. This time, I sketched for a couple of weeks, and ended up with a cross shape, with the severed deer's head in the middle.

I'd have to give a shout out to Jesse Burke on this. When I saw his show at ClampArt a few years ago, it opened my mind to the benefit from breaking away from a single line of pictures on the wall.

Installation view © Jonathan Blaustein

f: You're also a teacher and writer as well as an image-maker. How do those roles interact and overlap for you? What do you gain and what do you give up by doing each?

JB: It all came about out of necessity, as much as anything else. As regular readers of A Photo Editor know, I call it the 21st Century Hustle. It's the only way I can make a living in a small mountain town with a barely functioning economy.

But I do believe it's to my benefit. Strengthening multiple skill sets makes you better at each. And the teaching has helped the writing, because learning how to entertain people is a big part of being a successful teacher.

With respect to what I give up, I certainly wonder what I'd accomplish with a single-minded focus. As such, I've been jimmy-rigging my life schedule to find more time and energy in general, so I can continue to make new work. That's been a real treat.

Overall, I wouldn't trade the lifestyle, though. I work with younger students, from difficult backgrounds, and there's nothing I've found that keeps me grounded like that. Giving back is good for the karma.

From the series "Mindless Consumption of Animals" © Jonathan Blaustein

f: You have said in the past you're interested in experimenting with video. Any news on that front? What do you think video might allow you to do with your work that photography does not?

JB: Yeah, I'm still in the playing around stage. I'd like to develop the writing aspect, for myself as opposed to as a journalist, and then film things I've written. We're not there yet.

But clearly, video, or cinema, when done right, offers a far more immersive experience than still photos. You have sound, which combined with moving images, can take a viewer completely out of their own existence. It's the reason that TV and movies are infinitely more popular than visual art, even if those formats are now being delivered by Netflix and Amazon, as much as your local cinemaplex.

I'll get there eventually, I hope, but I'm not there yet.

From the series "Mindless Consumption of Animals" © Jonathan Blaustein

f: Both in how you intervene in some of the objects photographed for "MINE" and in your creation of "Blaustein Mining Company" for the project, there's a spicing of your work with absurdity and humor. How do the absurd and humor serve your aims? Is this a "laugh to keep from crying" scenario?

JB: For sure. I was just using that phrase with my wife the other day, as she's a social worker in the local middle school. Taos is a very rough town, which most people don't know. Her job is much harder than mine, so I was encouraging her to laugh at the absurdity of what she deals with, rather than struggling valiantly to overturn a rigged system all by herself. I even invoked Sisyphus, which is about as cliché a reference as you can get.

Overall, I just think that humor adds another level to art. It lives next door to the dark side of existence.   I like to bring them together. I'm not interested in beauty, by itself, or grotesquerie alone either, but when they mix up in one art project, or piece, it makes for the best stuff. A la Mike Kelley.
 
f: Anything else you'd like to add, Jonathan?

JB: Thanks for the opportunity to plumb the depths of my own twisted consciousness. I'm used to being the interviewer, at this point, not the interviewee. So this was very cool.

I'm working on three projects at once, for the first time ever, but I'm not ready to hype them yet. So I'll just end with my gratitude.

Mexico Notebook: Q&A with Ana Ayarzagoitia

© Ana Ayarzagoitia

Hannah Frieser, Jaime Permuth and I are collaborating to explore contemporary photography in Mexico. We're looking at trends and how they relate to traditions; events, institutions and venues; as well as pursuing conversations with curators, academics, gallerists and photographers on what's happening currently. This collaborative project will feature a variety of types of posts including interviews, book reviews, published letters, portfolios of images and more.

Hannah Frieser is a curator, photographer and book artist and former Executive Director of Light Work. Jaime Permuth is a Guatemalan photographer living and working in New York City and a Faculty Member at the School of Visual Arts.

We have been collaborating with the photographer Alejandro Cartagena as part of this project. Cartagena has overseen and executed a series of short interviews with photographers from Mexico and today we continue this series with an interview of Ana Ayarzagoitia by Cartagena. This is the last of the Mexico Notebook posts.

Other posts in this series include:
Interview with Adam Wiseman
Q&A with Luis Mercado
Q&A with Ray Govea
Interview with Ramón Jiménez Cuén
Interview with Laurence Salzmann
Interview with Diego Berruecos
Interview with Mariela Sancari
Q&A with Eduardo Jiménez Román
Q&A with Claudia Arechiga
Q&A with Nahatan Navarro
Contemporary Photography in Oaxaca
Q&A with Aglae Cortés
Q&A with Maria José Sesma
Interview with César Rodríguez
Q&A with Nora Gómez
Q&A with Melba Arellano
Q&A with Jorge Taboada

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© Ana Ayarzagoitia

This interview is presented first in an English translation by Nataly Castaño, then followed by the Spanish original.

Alejandro Cartagena: Where do you live and what you do?

Ana Ayarzagoitia: I live in Monterrey, Mexico and dedicate myself to the study of photography. Currently I study photography at the LCI .

AC: How did you get started in photography?

AA: Photography is a discipline that I have explored long before I knew that it existed as a profession.

I was 10-years-old when I grabbed the ordinary point and shoot 35mm camera that my parents had to take pictures at family meals, birthdays, holidays, days at high school, etc.

© Ana Ayarzagoitia

AC: When and what made you start considering producing photographic work to explore your personal concerns?

AA: A couple of years ago I finished a relationship with a boyfriend and the sadness that I felt at that moment caused me to search for refuge in photography. I got obsessed with it, searching to kill the boredom of life, that I was taking photographs all the time and I forgot myself completely in it. This thing that had been accompanying me all my life served at that time to explain me to myself, everything that I could not put into words, and it helped get out the emotions that absorbed me at that time.

Over time I realized that photography served me as a way to record that gray cloud passing. It showed me that the past stayed in the past, and yet these pictures hold the sadness, the negative thoughts and they will always be there to remind me of that place - between heaven and hell - where I was. I can say that photography helped me heal and this has been the best training I have had in this path. From my point of view that's the virtue that the arts have, in my case photography.

Currently I see my artistic process from another perspective, and I have made more conscious several concepts that have been working with such as intimacy, family conflicts that exist in all households and people who do not conform to social and cultural patterns.

© Ana Ayarzagoitia

AC: Tell us about some of your projects and the themes you approach through the images we are presenting.

AA: This series is called "Date-Break, 2013." It has been one of the series on which I have worked the most. It has worn me out physically and emotionally to the point of understanding what it entails to be an artist and to get to the bottom of the subject in order to get past it completely free. It interested me to make a record of intimacy from a trip to Greece I did with my ex-boyfriend. In them one can see a process of self-destruction and it ends with an image that, in my opinion, embodies the frustration, sadness and delusion that I felt at that moment. That second it became a duel, it meant on one side the end to an important stage in my life and, at the same time, a way to start over...from scratch.

AC: How do you think about the history of Mexican photography in your work?

AA: I am no expert on the subject, but I'm interested to know and see what occurs nationally. My exploration has been very personal and although there are references present inherently in my work, they are not obvious or fundamental to it.

© Ana Ayarzagoitia

AC: Do you believe that there is any relationship in subject matter, form or any other aspect between photography in Mexico and the rest of Latin America?

AA: Yes, of course we are historically connected and live in similar conditions and share both political and social issues. We come from very similar contexts. That, somehow, has to influence artistic production. Especially now, thanks to social networks, we are aware of what is happening in different countries and we all join in each other's struggles. In the end we are brothers.

AC: What are the issues being addressed both in contemporary photography in Mexico and outside of Mexico that interest you?

AA: Artistic proposals that through their work manage to give a framework to, or take apart the framework of, their personal conflicts. I appreciate and admire many projects that talk about social problems or that show crude realities, artists that take on the theme of the insecurity that currently exists and also landscape photographers.

© Ana Ayarzagoitia

AC: What do you feel benefits you or is a problem with being based in Mexico?

AA: I do not feel that it benefits me or creates any particular problems. There are so many things that interest me about my country.

When I travel outside Mexico, I always find new inspirations in other cultures that enrich me greatly and there is always something new to explore, do and enjoy.

AC: Anything you'd like to say about contemporary photography in general?

AA: I love it. I am excited to see and know about proposals from emerging artists, their new forms and ideas about how to approach individual themes. The proposals that also don't speak about photography from form itself, but that turn photography into a medium to express ideas and concepts that go beyond the form.

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© Ana Ayarzagoitia

Spanish original / Texto original en español

Alejandro Cartagena: ¿Dónde vives y a qué te dedicas?

Ana Ayarzagoitia: Vivo en Monterrey, México y me dedico a la fotografía. Actualmente estudio la carrera de fotografía en el LCI.

AC: ¿Cómo te iniciaste en la fotografía?

AA: La fotografía es una disciplina que he explorado desde mucho antes de saber que existía como profesión.

Tenia 10 años cuando agarraba la cámara "point and shoot" de 35mm común y corriente que mis papas tenían para tomar fotos en las comidas familiares, cumpleaños, vacaciones, días de colegio, etc.

AC: ¿Cuándo y que te hizo empezar a considerar producir trabajo fotográfico que explorara tus inquietudes personales?

AA: Hace un par de años termine una relación con un novio y la tristeza que sentí en ese momento, me llevo a refugiarme en la fotografía. Me obsesione tanto, buscando matar el hastío de la vida, que estaba haciendo fotos todo el tiempo y me olvide por completo de mí. Esta cosa que me había estado acompañando toda mi vida y que en ese momento me sirvió para  explicarme a mí misma todo lo que no podía decir con palabras y sacar los sentimientos que me absorbían.

Con el tiempo me di cuenta que la fotografía me sirvió para registrar esa nube gris que pasa, me mostro que el pasado quedo en el pasado y, sin embargo, en esas imágenes se guardan las tristezas, pensamientos negativos, siempre estarán ahí para recordarme ese lugar -entre el cielo y el infierno- en el que estuve. Puedo decir que la fotografía me ayudo a sanar y este ha sido el mejor aprendizaje que he tenido en este trayecto. Desde mi punto de vista esa es la virtud que tienen las artes, en mi caso particular la fotografía.

Actualmente veo mi proceso artístico desde otra perspectiva, e hice conscientes varios conceptos que he venido manejando como  la intimidad, retos familiares que existen en todas los hogares, personas que no se conforman a los esquemas sociales y paisaje.

© Ana Ayarzagoitia

AC: Platícanos un poco de tus proyectos y los temas que abordas en las imágenes que estamos presentando.

AA: Esta serie se llama date-break, 2013. Ha sido una de las series en las cuales he trabajado mas, me ha desgastado física y emocionalmente hasta el punto de entender lo que conlleva el asumirse como artista y meterse hasta el fondo del asunto para poder salir bien librado. Me interesaba hacer un registro de mi intimidad en un viaje que hice con mi exnovio a Grecia. En ellas se puede observar un proceso de autodestrucción y concluye con una imagen que, a mi parecer, encierra la frustración, tristeza y desilusión que sentí en ese instante. Ese segundo se convirtió en un duelo, por una parte significaba cerrar una etapa importante en mi vida y al mismo tiempo, una forma de empezar otra...desde cero.

AC: ¿De qué manera consideras la historia de la fotografía Mexicana en tu obra?

AA: No soy experta en el tema, pero me interesa conocer y ver lo que se produce a nivel nacional. Mi exploración ha sido muy personal y aunque los referentes están presentes de una manera inherente, no son evidentes ni fundamentales en mi obra.

© Ana Ayarzagoitia

AC: ¿Encuentras alguna relación de temas, forma o cualquier otro aspecto entre la fotografía en México y la del resto de America Latina?

AA: Si, por supuesto históricamente estamos conectados y vivimos en condiciones similares y compartimos problemáticas tanto políticas como sociales. Venimos de contextos muy parecidos, eso de alguna forma tiene que influenciar la producción artística, sobre todo ahora que gracias a las redes sociales, estamos al tanto de lo que sucede en diferentes países y nos unimos a las luchas de todos, al final somos hermanos.

AC: ¿Cuáles son los temas qué están siendo tratados en la fotografía contemporánea en México y también afuera de México que te interesen?

AA: Me interesan mucho las propuestas de artistas que por medio de su obra logran desentramar o entramar más sus conflictos personales.  Aprecio y admiro mucho proyectos que hablan de problemáticas sociales o que muestren realidades crudas, artistas que tocan los temas de inseguridad que existen actualmente, y los paisajistas.

© Ana Ayarzagoitia

AC: ¿Qué sientes te beneficia o problematiza producir desde México?

AA: No siento que tenga ningún conflicto trabajar dentro y fuera de México. Son demasiadas las cosas que me interesan de mi país.

Cuando salgo de México siempre encuentro  nuevas inspiraciones las diferentes culturas me enriquecen mucho y siempre hay algo nuevo que explorar, trabajar y gozar.

AC: ¿Algo que quisieras comentar sobre la fotografía contemporánea en general?

AA: Me encanta. Me entusiasma ver y conocer propuestas de artistas emergentes, las nuevas formas e ideas de abordar cada tema. También las que no hablan de la fotografía desde el formato sino que se convierte en un medio para expresar ideas y conceptos que van más allá de la forma.

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Alejandro Cartagena lives and works in Monterrey, Mexico. His projects employ landscape and portraiture as a means to examine social, urban and environmental issues in the Latin-American region.

His work has been exhibited internationally in festivals like CONTACT in Toronto, The FIF in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, GuatePhoto festival in Guatemala City, FOTOFEST in Houston and UNSEEN by FOAM in Amsterdam among others. Alejandro's work has been published internationally in magazines and newspapers such as Newsweek, Le Monde, The Guardian, The Independent, The New York Times Lens Blog, PDN, The New Yorker, and Wallpaper among others. His book Suburbia Mexicana was published by Photolucida and Daylight books in 2011.

He has received the Photolucida Critical Mass Book Award, the SNCA-CONACULTA grant for Mexican artists, the Premio IILA-Fotografia 2012 award in Rome, the Street Photography Award in London and a POYi reportage award of excellence, the Lente Latino award in Chile, the award Salon de la Fotografia from the Fototeca de Nuevo Leon in Mexico among other awards. He has been named a FOAM magazine Talent and one of PDN Magazine's 30 emerging photographers. He has also been a finalist for the Aperture Portfolio award, the Photoespaña Descubrimientos award, the FOAM Paul Huff award and has been nominated for the CENTER Santa Fe photography prize.

His work is in many private and public collections. He is currently represented by Circuit Gallery in Toronto, Kopeikin Gallery in Los Angeles and Galería Patricia Conde in Mexico City.

Mexico Notebook: Interview with Adam Wiseman

Annuska Angulo in the bathroom of Progreso and Prosperidad, Escandon, Mexico City,
From the series "Moving Portraits" (2013) © Adam Wiseman 

Hannah Frieser, Jaime Permuth and I are collaborating to explore contemporary photography in Mexico. We're looking at trends and how they relate to traditions; events, institutions and venues; as well as pursuing conversations with curators, academics, gallerists and photographers on what's happening currently. This collaborative project will feature a variety of types of posts including interviews, book reviews, published letters, portfolios of images and more.

Hannah Frieser is a curator, photographer and book artist and former Executive Director of Light Work. Jaime Permuth is a Guatemalan photographer living and working in New York City and a Faculty Member at the School of Visual Arts.

Today we continue this series with an interview of Adam Wiseman by Jessica Hubbard Marr.

Other posts in this series include:
Q&A with Luis Mercado
Q&A with Ray Govea
Interview with Ramón Jiménez Cuén
Interview with Laurence Salzmann
Interview with Diego Berruecos
Interview with Mariela Sancari
Q&A with Eduardo Jiménez Román
Q&A with Claudia Arechiga
Q&A with Nahatan Navarro
Contemporary Photography in Oaxaca
Q&A with Aglae Cortés
Q&A with Maria José Sesma
Interview with César Rodríguez
Q&A with Nora Gómez
Q&A with Melba Arellano
Q&A with Jorge Taboada

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Rafael Ortega, on his balcony in Progreso and Prosperidad, Escandon, Mexico City, From the series
"Moving Portraits" (2013) © Adam Wiseman

Jessica Hubbard Marr: To begin, where do you live and what do you do?

Adam Wiseman:  I live in Mexico City; I am an artist and a freelance editorial photographer.

JHM: Describe your first experience with photography. What stands out to you most about this first encounter?

AW:  My parents have always been obsessed with photo albums, we have many volumes of them. As a child we moved and traveled a lot. My mother is Scottish, my father American. I was born in Mexico and as a child lived in Brazil, Mexico, Scotland and London.

With so much moving around, the photo albums were the only way I could keep everything straight. I developed an appreciation for visual language from a very young age. I struggled with dyslexia, pictures made much more sense as a means of communication than words.

As a young adolescent I began to travel alone or with friends and recorded my travels with a point-and-shoot; I loved it, wasn't much good, but I was always excited to get the film developed.  It wasn't until I started going to university that I became more serious about photography as a tool of personal expression and not one of just documentation.  It was at the age of 18 that I learned how to use a manual SLR, how to develop film in a darkroom, how to print and how to edit.

Elena Poniatowska in her garden in Chimalistac, Mexico City, From the series "Moving Portraits" (2013)
© Adam Wiseman

JHM: What were you drawn to most about photography?

AW:  I am drawn to its intuitive nature, I feel most of my good work is shot intuitively, to a certain extent; subconsciously, not intellectually.

There is simplicity and clarity in photography but also plenty of room for interpretation. I am drawn to photographs that are in some way unresolved, that have some ambiguity about them requiring the viewer to participate and fill in the blanks with their imagination.

I love the subjective nature of photography, how it distorts reality and manifests a particular point of view and yet it is often accepted as the gospel truth. I am fascinated by the idea of taking a photograph and thus removing a slice of reality from a larger context and changing its meaning by creating a new context either by placing it next to other photographs, or on its own, but without the reference of its natural environment.

Francis Alÿs in La Condesa, Mexico City, From the series "Moving Portraits" (2013)
© Adam Wiseman

JHM: What was your experience like studying at ICP (International Center for Photography)? What stands out to you about that education?

AW:  ICP was my first serious introduction to photography.  We were only 11 [students], so each of us had plenty of time to share our work and critique the work of our peers. We had access to darkrooms, cameras, lights and chemicals.

Experimentation was always encouraged: it felt liberating to be able to shoot so freely and to be in such a creative environment.  What stood out was the dynamic back and forth from one’s peers. I miss it today, having so many talented photographers around to receive feedback from and being able to look at other's work.

Guillermo Santamarina at the Muca Roma, Mexico City, From the series "Moving Portraits" (2013)
© Adam Wiseman

JHM: How did your work at Magnum impact you or inspire you?

AW:  My work at Magnum was as a printer. It was a wonderful opportunity to see how the photographers I had always admired worked. Looking at the contact sheets of each photographer would reveal how they achieved the iconic images which were eventually chosen, the images we all eventually knew so well which became part of the fabric of history: Bresson, Capa, Gilden, Koudelka, Erwitt, Meiselas, Peress, Webb, McCurry, Nachtwey… no longer just role models, they became my teachers. I was very fortunate to be there and most of them were very generous with their time.

JHM: Who has been a photographer, whether at Magnum or elsewhere, that notably influenced you and/or your current professional practice?

AW:  I have always admired photographers who have broken with tradition, photographers who discover a new way to express themselves and don't necessarily adhere to the unspoken rules of the medium. Martin Parr, Stephen Shore, Alec Soth, Bruce Gilden, Richard Mosse, Paul Graham, Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin are a few that come to mind.

Luis Mdahuar in Kurt and Rocio's garage, La Condesa, Mexico City, From the series "Moving Portraits" (2013)
© Adam Wiseman

JHM: What brought you back to Mexico City? How was the transition from the New York photography world? Challenges? Benefits? Differences?

AW:  I returned to Mexico City for practical and emotional reasons. A part of me always wanted to return and I was often nostalgic for when I lived there. My wife and I had also just had our first child and we were struggling to make a living as we slowly got our careers off the ground. Moving to Mexico turned out to be a good decision for many reasons, among them for my development as a photographer.

I was offered opportunities I feel would not have been offered to me in New York. I became the photo editor of a travel magazine, an experience that let me grow and experiment, develop a personal style and refine my technical skills. Being a photo editor in a big publishing house turned out to be too much of an administrative job for me and I soon left to become a freelancer. Despite it not being a good fit as a long-term decision, the experience was a very valuable one and gave me the skills I needed to then find my own path in the photographic and art world.

Melanie Smith in her studio, San Pedro Los Pinos, Mexico City, From the series "Moving Portraits" (2013)
© Adam Wiseman

JHM: How do you find a balance between editorial and personal work? Where do find inspiration for your personal work?

AW:  For most of my career, I have survived from editorial assignments. From very early on, I made a commitment to myself that every assignment should have a personal angle to it. I was not allowed to be happy with the work if only my client was. I could only be happy with it if I had discovered and photographed something that challenged me intellectually or aesthetically.

As a consequence, my editorial work developed into something more personal and my personal work began to take center stage. I never really felt I have had to balance the two, on the contrary they are each a part of the other's process.

Michael Nyman in La Colonia Roma, Mexico City, From the series "Moving Portraits" (2013)
© Adam Wiseman

JHM: What was the motivation behind your series, "Moving Portraits"?

AW:  "Moving Portraits" was part of a personal exploration looking to challenge the traditional rules of documentary photography and in this case, documentary portraiture.

It came at a time when I decided to step back from my semi-formulaic editorial process and think about photography in a more theoretical way: what is a portrait? What is the role of the photographer/subject? What is their relationship to each other? How is objectivity achieved with a medium that has such a subjective nature?

In a way, it was a personal rebellion to my years of being faithful to the unspoken yet strict rules of documentary photography. "Moving Portraits" was inspired by the need to break the rules. My goal was to capture the essence of my subjects through untraditional methods, in this case through deceit and by using a new tool for me; video.

Boca del Rio Bar, From the series "d.f.p.m." (2011) © Adam Wiseman

Mannequins, From the series "d.f.p.m." (2011) © Adam Wiseman

JHM: Deceit! I imagine being captured in such a novel approach was new for all your subjects, and especially the public figures who have their portrait taken regularly. What was the feedback from your subjects? Anything unexpected?

AW:  Initially, they were surprised and at first quiet, probably because they were trying to remember if they did anything foolish. After the surprise wore off though they found it amusing and I think liked the sneaky/cheekiness of it.

JHM: In 2013, "Moving Portraits" was featured in the exhibition "México a través de la Fotografía" at the MUNAL (National Museum of Art); it was the final work in the survey of 300 important works of Mexican photographic history. How did it feel to be included alongside such legendary work? Do you see the series as an indicator to where photography is evolving in Mexico?

AW:  I was flattered. I was also impressed by Georgina Rodriguez's bold decision to include "MP" - a video - in a show that illustrated the history of Mexico, but also the history of photography in Mexico. It was bold but necessary because technology is allowing for changes in traditional methods of expression and many photographers now incorporate video into their work.

Many of the pieces in this year's Photography Biennial include video. These videos are mostly photographic in the way that they use the language of still photography (carefully composed, camera in a fixed position, limited or restricted movement within the frame, and the lack of a story based narrative).

Many contemporary Mexican photographers are expressing themselves through video in this new way; Pavka Segura's new work, which might be described as video photographs, is a good example of this. Nahatan Navarro incorporates into his work "stolen" video selfies taken from electronic store laptops.

So yes, I feel that "Moving Portraits" is one example of how photography in Mexico is freeing itself from the medium and its rules, new techniques encouraged by advances in technology and changes in the market has made documentary photography more subjective and concept driven and less driven by the pursuit of a story-based narrative.

Three Kings Day, From the series "d.f.p.m." (2011) © Adam Wiseman

JHM: What was the inspiration for your most recent work, "Tlatelolco Desmentido"? How did you decide to represent/depict the current community at Tlatelolco?

AW:  "Tlatelolco Desmentido" ("Tlatelolco Disproved") is a look at the relationship between a building and the people who live in it. How one shapes and defines the other in spite of what the architect had originally intended. I was interested in Tlatelolco because it has been so scarred by history and is so far removed from the modernist utopia it was supposed to be.

I wanted to make a "portrait" of a place and a people in a moment in time. A portrait where the process not only allowed for an unpredictable result, mirroring the architect Mario Pani's experience, but that also involved the residents in the making, without the residents being the protagonists. The building is always the protagonist in this process, yet the building is defined by those who live in it.

Portrait of a Man Drinking Beer, From the series "d.f.p.m." (2011) © Adam Wiseman

JHM: What were some of the challenges in dealing with such a tragic historical event?

AW:  At first I had to decide how to approach the subject, how much of this project should be about the tragic events that occurred there?

From the very beginning, I chose not to make the student massacre of '68 the focus of this project. It had to be as present as it was in the minds and lives of those who lived there: not the main focus, just like it isn't constantly a part of everyday life. However, there is no denying that its ghost is there and will never go away.

Once I had decided to focus on the building and its residents, the challenge was primarily logistical and social: how to convince over 100 people to get involved in this crazy project?

To do this, I asked my good friend, artist and producer Enrique Cervera to help me. He was key to getting the Chihuahua building to open their doors to us and to keep them open for almost a year now.

From the series "Tlatelolco Desmentido" (2014) © Adam Wiseman

JHM: Were there any surprises in the process of making the work?

AW:  Absolutely! The biggest surprise was how eager and willing the residents were; over 90% of those asked took part in the project. The results of "Tlatelolco Desmentido" are far removed from what I expected would occur.

The whole project was a surprise. Another surprise was how the project evolved naturally, how it began and then where it led me, particularly from shooting the façade and the orchestrated lights to shooting the interior windows.

From the series "Tlatelolco Desmentido" (2014) © Adam Wiseman

From the series "Tlatelolco Desmentido" (2014) © Adam Wiseman

JHM: How are you inspired by Mexico City? What is unique about it, especially for a photographer?

AW:  Like any big city, its unpredictability. In the case of Mexico City, I think this is especially the case. I also love the way it solves its own problems through unconventional creative means.

I once read a description of São Paulo, Brazil as a city that looked as if New York had vomited Los Angeles… I think there is some of that in Mexico, not only the imagery, but also socio-politically, culturally and economically speaking.

JHM: Finally, what’s next?

AW:  Still lifes… I think.

From the series "Tlatelolco Desmentido" (2014) © Adam Wiseman

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Jessica Hubbard Marr is a specialist in photographic imagery with a focus on Latin America, an interest that developed thanks to many nights in the Manuel Alvarez Bravo/IAGO library in Oaxaca over the years. As a result, she subsequently received her M.A. in The History and Theory of Photography at Sotheby's Institute of Art/University of Manchester in London in 2011; Marr previously earned her B.A. in English from Kenyon College in 2005. Prior to working in the photography field, Marr worked with the non-profit, 'Friends of Oaxacan Folk Art' from 2008-2010, as both a photographer and cultural liaison. 

Since 2010, she has worked for TransGlobe Publishing in London, researching and writing about contemporary art and photography in locations ranging from Brazil to the Middle East. In 2012, Marr was appointed to the Global Nominations Panel for the Prix Pictect Photography Prize as a specialist in Latin American Photography. Her original essay, "A Glimpse into Enduring Moments" was featured in the catalogue of photographer Nadja Massun's solo exhibition, Alice in the Land of Zapata, at the Hungarian House of Photography in Budapest in 2012.

Marr resides in the US after spending the past six years studying and working abroad in Oaxaca, Quito, London and Mexico City. She credits these experiences to both expanding and deepening her appreciation for and knowledge about the photographic medium across cultures. 

She works as an independent photography consultant, researcher, writer, editor, and art advisor for both art/photography professionals and practitioners between Mexico, New York and London. 

Marr's photographic work has been published internationally in a variety of art and literary journals. Her first published photograph was taken in Oaxaca in 2008. 

Mexico Notebook: Q&A with Luis Mercado

From the series "This is not a city, this is not a town" © Luis Mercado

Hannah Frieser, Jaime Permuth and I are collaborating to explore contemporary photography in Mexico. We're looking at trends and how they relate to traditions; events, institutions and venues; as well as pursuing conversations with curators, academics, gallerists and photographers on what's happening currently. This collaborative project will feature a variety of types of posts including interviews, book reviews, published letters, portfolios of images and more.

Hannah Frieser is a curator, photographer and book artist and former Executive Director of Light Work. Jaime Permuth is a Guatemalan photographer living and working in New York City and a Faculty Member at the School of Visual Arts.

We have been collaborating with the photographer Alejandro Cartagena as part of this project. Cartagena has overseen and executed a series of short interviews with photographers from Mexico and today we continue this series with an interview of Luis Mercado by Cartagena.

Other posts in this series include:
Q&A with Ray Govea
Interview with Ramón Jiménez Cuén
Interview with Laurence Salzmann
Interview with Diego Berruecos
Interview with Mariela Sancari
Q&A with Eduardo Jiménez Román
Q&A with Claudia Arechiga
Q&A with Nahatan Navarro
Contemporary Photography in Oaxaca
Q&A with Aglae Cortés
Q&A with Maria José Sesma
Interview with César Rodríguez
Q&A with Nora Gómez
Q&A with Melba Arellano
Q&A with Jorge Taboada

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From the series "This is not a city, this is not a town" © Luis Mercado

This interview is presented first in an English translation by Nataly Castaño, then followed by the Spanish original.

Alejandro Cartagena: Where do you live and what you do?

Luis Mercado: I live in Obregón, a town located in the state of Sonora, Mexico. I am a photographer and professor in a local university.

AC: How did you get started in photography?

LM: Since my teenage years I had a strong inclination towards fashion design, graphic design and the arts. I went into graphic design at the same university that I give classes now. There I discovered my passion for photography. My design class was the last one in which I was able to enjoy developing film and printing in the darkroom. Those semesters had a great significance in my life.

From the series "This is not a city, this is not a town" © Luis Mercado

AC: When and what made you start considering producing photographic work to explore your personal concerns?

LM: Getting close to the end of my degree I was already working in different mediums of design. I was the director of the creative department of a small company, I worked in the marketing department of the university and I made personal photographs imitating the styles that I would see in magazines and online. However all of this I thought - or perhaps it's better to say I felt - was naïve and coarse. I knew there were other things being made outside of the state, but I didn't know where to begin the research.

I made the decision then to leave Sonora and study a master's in visual arts in the Distrito Federal, in a place called the Academia de San Carlos. It was there where I threw away the classic paradigms of photography and started making personal reflections. My first project named "Viva la vida" was a series of portraits of people who suffered from chronic depression. This project was selected for the XIV Bienal de Fotografía del Centro de la Imagen (14th Photography Biennial of the Centro de la Imagen) in Mexico City.

From the series "Sedimentos/Cúmulo" (Sediments/Piles) © Luis Mercado 

AC: Tell us about some of your projects and the themes you approach through the images we are presenting.

LM: My main subject is the desert, particularly the Sonora Desert. I'm interested in the relationship of this barren space with its population, how the climate and geographic conditions become part of the local culture. The Situationists called this "psychogeography." I find it fascinating how the desert requires a social pragmatism and a culture of immediacy in order to be inhabited.

AC: How do you think about the history of Mexican photography in your work?

LM: I don't have a good relationship with the early history of Mexican photography, which is not the same as "not having a relationship." I find the artwork of most of the classic photographers of Mexico - I don't want to specify names- boring and classicist. I would except from this and I admire parts of the work of Lazaro Blanco.

What I find fascinating is the contemporary photography and photojournalism of the country. My images consciously owe a debt to artists like Alejandro Cartagena, Miguel Fernandez, Omar Gamez, Javier Ramirez Limón, Adam Wiseman and Adela Goldbard. Also I think constantly of [Enrique] Metinides, even though my work does not relate with his. Also it the work of Sze Tsung Leong is very important to me, but, even though he was born in Mexico, I don't know whether or not I should consider him Mexican.

From the series "Sedimentos/Cúmulo" (Sediments/Piles) © Luis Mercado

AC: Do you believe that there is any relationship in subject matter, form or any other aspect between photography in Mexico and the rest of Latin America?

LM: There are certain themes that are constant fixtures. "Porno-misery" will never leave us, unfortunately. Suburban and middle class life is another subject never exhausted ,but fortunately vital and with varied representations. It is strange to talk about formal similarities within Latin America. More precisely, these similarities exist, but it's with the rest of the world. The current informational mediums have exposed us to artwork from all coordinates and points of history, from New Topographics, headed by Stephen Shore, to the irreverence of [Nobuyoshi] Araki. We live in a rich time for photography

AC: What are the issues being addressed both in contemporary photography in Mexico and outside of Mexico that interest you?

LM: I'm very interested in the relationship with space and I'm attracted to the work of almost any photographer who takes on this subject, from the very obviously spatial like Edward Burstynsky, [Stephen] Shore and Sze Tsung Leong to the more reflective - psychogeographic? - like Alec Soth, Cartagena or Alexander Gronsky.

From the series "Sedimentos/Cúmulo" (Sediments/Piles) © Luis Mercado

AC: What do you feel benefits you or is a problem with being based in Mexico?

LM: It is interesting to be based in Mexico, or more concretely, from Sonora, since our very rigid and yet pragmatic culture has produced artists whose formal solutions to their interests are very interesting to me, and almost unique in the country. I find in the work of Miguel Fernandez, Alfredo Karam, Carlos Ivan or Miriam Salado a clinical look, very anti-romantic, with which I identify tremendously.

AC: Anything you'd like to say about contemporary photography in general?

LM: I don't think I can give a commentary to contribute to the vision of contemporary photography. I also don't think that is my job. From the 70s to today we have been part of a photographic era of excellence. Not only has photography become art, but also, like Javier Ramirez Limón once told me, art has become photographic. I simply feel fortunate to be part of this.

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From the series "Indicios de desplazamiento" (Evidence of Displacement) © Luis Mercado

Spanish original / Texto original en español

Alejandro Cartagena: ¿Dónde vives y a qué te dedicas?

Luis Mercado: Vivo en Obregón, un pueblo ubicado en el Estado de Sonora, México. Soy fotógrafo y maestro en una universidad local.

AC: ¿Cómo te iniciaste en la fotografía?

LM: Desde adolescente sentía una fuerte inclinación hacia el diseño de modas, diseño gráfico y las artes. Entre a la carrera de diseño gráfico en la misma universidad en donde ahora doy clases. Ahí descubrí mi gusto por la fotografía. Mi generación de diseño fue la ultima que pudo disfrutar de revelar negativos e imprimir en cuarto oscuro. Esos semestres tuvieron un gran significado en mi vida.

From the series "Indicios de desplazamiento" (Evidence of Displacement) © Luis Mercado

AC: ¿Cuándo y que te hizo empezar a considerar producir trabajo fotográfico que explorara tus inquietudes personales?

LM: Al estarse aproximándome al final de mi carrera ya estaba trabajando en distintos medios de diseño. Fui director del departamento creativo de un pequeño despacho, hacia servicio en el departamento de mercadotecnia de la universidad y hacia algunas fotografías personales imitando los estilos que veía en las revistas y en internet. Sin embargo todo esto me parecía -o mejor dicho, lo presentía- ingenuo y burdo. Sabia que se estaban produciendo otras cosas fuera del Estado, pero no sabia por donde empezar a investigar.

Decidí entonces salir de Sonora y estudiar una maestría en artes visuales en el Distrito Federal, en un lugar llamado Academia de San Carlos. Fue ahí donde empece a desechar paradigmas clásicos de la fotografía e iniciar reflexiones personales. Mi primer proyecto en forma, titulado "Viva la vida" era una serie de retratos de personas que sufrían de depresión crónica. Ese proyecto quedo seleccionado en la XIV Bienal de Fotografía del Centro de la Imagen, en el DF.

From the series "Indicios de desplazamiento" (Evidence of Displacement) © Luis Mercado

AC: Platícanos un poco de tus proyectos y los temas que abordas en las imágenes que estamos presentando.

LM: Mi tema principal es el desierto, particularmente el Desierto de Sonora. Me interesa a relación de éste espacio árido con sus habitantes, como las condiciones climáticas y geográficas se transpiran en la cultura local. Los situacionistas llamaron a esto "piscogeografía." Me parece fascinante como el desierto obliga un pragmatismo social y una cultura de la inmediatez para ser habitado.

AC: ¿De qué manera consideras la historia de la fotografía Mexicana en tu obra?

LM: No tengo una buena relación con la historia temprana de la fotografía mexicana, que no es lo mismo que ‘no tener relación’. Encuentro los trabajos de la mayoría de los fotógrafos clásicos de Mexico -no deseo especificar nombres- aburridos y clasistas. Rescato y admiro parte de la obra de Lazaro Blanco.

Lo que encuentro fascinante es la fotografía contemporánea y periodística del país. Mis imágenes le deben conscientemente a artistas como Alejandro Cartagena, Miguel Fernandez, Omar Gamez, Javier Ramirez Limon, Adam Wiseman y Adela Goldbard. También pienso constantemente en [Enrique] Metinides, aunque mi trabajo no tenga relación con el suyo. También es muy importante para mi el trabajo de Sze Tsung Leong, pero, aunque nació en Mexico, no se si considerarlo mexicano.

From the series "Paisaje abreviado" (Abbreviated Landscape) © Luis Mercado

AC: ¿Encuentras alguna relación de temas, forma o cualquier otro aspecto entre la fotografía en México y la del resto de America Latina?

LM: Hay ciertas fijaciones temáticas que son constantes. La pornomiseria no nos abandonara nunca, por desgracia. La vida suburbana y la clase media es otro tema inagotable pero afortunadamente vital y con representaciones variadas. Es extraño hablar de similitudes formales con Latinoamérica. Más precisamente, estas similitudes existen pero con el resto del mundo. Los medios de información actuales nos han expuesto a trabajos que surgen de todas las coordenadas y puntos de la historia. Desde la nueva topografía, encabezada por Stephen Shore hasta la irreverencia de [Nobuyoshi] Araki. Vivimos en una época rica para la fotografía.

AC: ¿Cuáles son los temas qué están siendo tratados en la fotografía contemporánea en México y también afuera de México que te interesen?

LM: Me interesa mucho la relación con el espacio y me siento atraído al trabajo de casi cualquier fotógrafo que lo aborde. Desde lo obviamente espacial como Edward Burstynsky, [Stephen] Shore y Sze Tsung Leong hasta lo más reflexivo - ¿psicogeográfico? - como Alec Soth, Cartagena o Alexander Gronsky.

From the series "Paisaje abreviado" (Abbreviated Landscape) © Luis Mercado

AC: ¿Qué sientes te beneficia o problematiza producir desde México?

LM: Es interesante producir desde Mexico, o concretamente, desde Sonora, ya que nuestra cultura tan rígida y pragmática ha producido artistas cuyas soluciones formales a sus intereses me parecen sumamente interesantes, casi únicas en el país. Encuentro en el trabajo de Miguel Fernandez, de Alfredo Karam, de Carlos Ivan o de Miriam Salado una mirada clínica, muy anti-romantica, con la que me siento tremendamente identificado.

AC: ¿Algo que quisieras comentar sobre la fotografía contemporánea en general?

LM: No creo poder dar un comentario que contribuya a la visión de la fotografía contemporánea. Tampoco creo que ésta sea mi tarea. De los 70s a nuestros días hemos sido parte de la era fotográfica por excelencia. No solo la fotografía se ha hecho arte, sino que, como me comentaría alguna vez Javier Ramirez Limón, el arte se ha hecho fotográfico. Simplemente me siento afortunado de ser parte de esto.

From the series "Paisaje abreviado" (Abbreviated Landscape) © Luis Mercado

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Alejandro Cartagena lives and works in Monterrey, Mexico. His projects employ landscape and portraiture as a means to examine social, urban and environmental issues in the Latin-American region.

His work has been exhibited internationally in festivals like CONTACT in Toronto, The FIF in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, GuatePhoto festival in Guatemala City, FOTOFEST in Houston and UNSEEN by FOAM in Amsterdam among others. Alejandro's work has been published internationally in magazines and newspapers such as Newsweek, Le Monde, The Guardian, The Independent, The New York Times Lens Blog, PDN, The New Yorker, and Wallpaper among others. His book Suburbia Mexicana was published by Photolucida and Daylight books in 2011.

He has received the Photolucida Critical Mass Book Award, the SNCA-CONACULTA grant for Mexican artists, the Premio IILA-Fotografia 2012 award in Rome, the Street Photography Award in London and a POYi reportage award of excellence, the Lente Latino award in Chile, the award Salon de la Fotografia from the Fototeca de Nuevo Leon in Mexico among other awards. He has been named a FOAM magazine Talent and one of PDN Magazine's 30 emerging photographers. He has also been a finalist for the Aperture Portfolio award, the Photoespaña Descubrimientos award, the FOAM Paul Huff award and has been nominated for the CENTER Santa Fe photography prize.

His work is in many private and public collections. He is currently represented by Circuit Gallery in Toronto, Kopeikin Gallery in Los Angeles and Galería Patricia Conde in Mexico City.