fototazo

5.06.2020

LatAm f100: Lucía Morón and María Gutiérrez

fototazo has asked a group of 50 curators, gallery owners, blog writers, photographers, academics and others actively engaged with Latin American photography to pick two photographers whose work deserves recognition.

This project aims to highlight great work being made in the region today and also to provide a starting point in both English and Spanish for exploring contemporary Latin American photography. LatAm f100 is a collaboration between fototazo and the photographer and educator Jaime Permuth.

Today we continue the series with selections by Charlotte Schmitz. Her biography follows her selections as well as a list of previous contributors to the series.

fototazo ha invitado a un grupo de 50 curadores, galeristas, escritores, fotógrafos, y académicos - entre otros individuos seriamente comprometidos con la fotografía latinoamericana - a escoger cada quién dos fotógrafos cuya obra sea merecedora de mayor reconocimiento.

Este proyecto es una manera de celebrar el gran trabajo que se lleva a cabo en la región. Asimismo, busca proporcionar un punto de partida bilingüe en inglés y en español a las audiencias que deseen explorar la fotografía contemporánea en Latinoamérica. LatAm f100 es una colaboración entre fototazo y el fotógrafo y educador Jaime Permuth.

Hoy continuamos la serie con selecciones aportadas por Charlotte Schmitz. Encontrará su biografía al final del texto, así como una lista de colaboradores anteriores de la serie.

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When I chose María Gutiérrez and Lucía Morón, I didn't know that these two young woman are based in the same city, Buenos Aires. I met both at Lake Atitlán in Guatemala during 20 Fotógraf@s, where they became friends. We were a big group of photographers living and sharing everything together for ten days, something which seems so far away now, only a few months later. Sturm und Drang, and suddenly the world stops. I only recently discovered more of the beauty and intimacy of their works, through @wpthejournal which is a collective photo project of 400+ women worldwide, and María and Lucía are documenting their private spaces during the current pandemic as well as the other women taking part in the project. And I am happy to see their Sturm and their Drang in their photographs, despite the difficult times. Their images are strong and intimate, their minds creative, and most importantly, they belong to an inspiring generation of young women photographers from South America, who I see with excitement are challenging societies and taking their place.

Cuando elegí a María Gutiérrez y Lucía Morón, no sabía que estas dos jóvenes estaban en la misma ciudad, Buenos Aires. Conocí a ambas en el Lago de Atitlán en Guatemala durante 20 Fotógraf@s, donde se hicieron amigas. Éramos un grupo grande de fotógrafos viviendo y compartiendo todo durante 10 días, algo que ahora parece muy lejano, tan sólo unos meses después. Sturm und Drang, y de repente el mundo se detiene. Recientemente descubrí más de la belleza y la intimidad de sus obras, a través de @wpthejournal, un proyecto fotográfico colectivo de más de 400 mujeres en todo el mundo, donde María y Lucía documentan sus espacios privados durante la pandemia actual, al igual que las otras mujeres que participan en el proyecto. Y estoy feliz de ver su Sturm y su Drang en sus fotografías, a pesar de los tiempos difíciles. Sus imágenes son fuertes e íntimas, sus mentes son creativas y, lo que es más importante, ambas pertenecen a una generación inspiradora de jóvenes fotógrafas de Latinoamérica , a quienes veo con entusiasmo, desafiando sociedades y reclamando su lugar.

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Charlotte Schmitz' approach to her photography is deliberately personal and often subverts the traditional documentary approach, which allows her to convey her messages about women and migration. She grew up in the Danish minority in Germany and studied documentary photography in Hanover. Charlotte's work has been published in The Washington Post and der Spiegel, among other international media outlets. The British Journal of Photography selected her as one of the "Ones To Watch 2019" and she is the first recipient of the "FotoEvidence W Award" with her work La Puente. She speaks six languages and is currently based in Berlin where she cofounded Friendzone.Studion to develop creative communication for projects that matter.

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This series also includes responses from Molly Roberts, Mariela Sancari, Alonso Castillo, Paccarik Orue, Katrin Eismann, Dina Mitrani, Don Gregorio Anton, Cristina De Middel, Arturo Soto, Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, Guillermo Srodek-Hart, Yorgos Efthymiadis, Livia Animas, Juanita Bermúdez, Susana Raab, the pairing of Victoria Holguín and Daniella Benedetti, Emiliano Valdés, Muriel Hasbun, George Slade, Marta Dahó, Elizabeth Avedon, Jorge Piccini, Rodrigo Orrantia, Sujong Song, Nelson Herrera Ysla, Oliva María Rubio, Jonathan Blaustein, Patricia Martin, José Luis Cuevas, Zully Sotelo, Alfredo De Stefano Farías, Gonzalo Golpe, Julián Barón, James Rodríguez, Misha Vallejo, Musuk Nolte, Cintia Durán, Alasdair Foster, Eder Chiodetto, Erik van der Weijde, Stella Johnson, Efrem Zelony-Mindell, Joana Toro, Jon F. Espitia, Sofia Ayarzagoitia, Isadora Romero and Álvaro Laiz.

La serie también incluye contribuciones de Molly Roberts, Mariela Sancari, Alonso Castillo, Paccarik Orue, Katrin Eismann, Dina Mitrani, Don Gregorio Anton, Cristina De Middel, Arturo Soto, Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, Guillermo Srodek-Hart, Yorgos Efthymiadis, Livia Animas, Juanita Bermúdez, Susana Raab, el dúo de Victoria Holguín and Daniella Benedetti, Emiliano Valdés, Muriel Hasbun, George Slade, Marta Dahó, Elizabeth Avedon, Jorge Piccini, Rodrigo Orrantia, Sujong Song y Nelson Herrera Ysla, Oliva María Rubio, Jonathan Blaustein, Patricia Martin, José Luis Cuevas, Zully Sotelo, Alfredo De Stefano Farías, Gonzalo Golpe, Julián Barón, James Rodríguez, Musuk Nolte, Cintia Durán, Alasdair Foster, Eder Chiodetto, Erik van der Weijde, Stella Johnson, Efrem Zelony-Mindell, Joana Toro, Jon F. Espitia, Sofia Ayarzagoitia, Isadora Romero y Álvaro Laiz.

5.05.2020

LatAm f100: Florence Goupil and Víctor Zea

From the series "P'unchaw" © Víctor Zea

fototazo has asked a group of 50 curators, gallery owners, blog writers, photographers, academics and others actively engaged with Latin American photography to pick two photographers whose work deserves recognition.

This project aims to highlight great work being made in the region today and also to provide a starting point in both English and Spanish for exploring contemporary Latin American photography. LatAm f100 is a collaboration between fototazo and the photographer and educator Jaime Permuth.

Today we continue the series with selections by Álvaro Laiz. His biography follows his selections as well as a list of previous contributors to the series.

fototazo ha invitado a un grupo de 50 curadores, galeristas, escritores, fotógrafos, y académicos - entre otros individuos seriamente comprometidos con la fotografía latinoamericana - a escoger cada quién dos fotógrafos cuya obra sea merecedora de mayor reconocimiento.

Este proyecto es una manera de celebrar el gran trabajo que se lleva a cabo en la región. Asimismo, busca proporcionar un punto de partida bilingüe en inglés y en español a las audiencias que deseen explorar la fotografía contemporánea en Latinoamérica. LatAm f100 es una colaboración entre fototazo y el fotógrafo y educador Jaime Permuth.

Hoy continuamos la serie con selecciones aportadas por Álvaro Laiz. Encontrará su biografía al final del texto, así como una lista de colaboradores anteriores de la serie.

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El Viaje de Florence

Florence's photographs have something of an initiatory journey. They invite you to enter and lose yourself within the mystical imagery deliberately and calmly as the bodies of water that populate its images plunge you into the interior of a mystery that is barely revealed. With a focus halfway between art and photo essay, Florence draws the viewer into a transfiguring maze. A delicate and cunning approach to the ethnography and folklore of her native Peru, navigating the worlds of the visible and the possible, between what existed and what will exist...

Florence's Journey

Las fotografías de Florence tiene algo de viaje iniciático. Invitan a adentrarte y perderte en una imaginería mística y de forma pausada, con calma como los masas de agua que pueblan sus imágenes te sumergen en el interior de un misterio que apenas se desvela. Con un enfoque a medio camino entre el arte y el fotoensayo Florence arrastra al espectador a un laberinto transfigurador. Un acercamiento delicado y astuto a la etnografía y el folclore de su Perú natal navegando los mundos de lo visible y lo posible, entre lo que existió y lo que existirá…

From the series "Don Benito Qoriwaman" © Florence Goupil

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Long Live the Sun King
P’unchaw, Víctor Zea's first photobook, is much more than a street photo book. It is a song to his adopted city, Cusco. Using a concept as old as it is attractive (all light casts a shadow), Victor weaves a magnificent and delicate piece of visual metalwork. Cuzco is revealed as El Dorado, where the gold the Spanish were looking for shines on every page of the book and then disappears as if it had never been there. P'unchaw is a true compliment to the Quechua culture, to Cusco, but above all it is a Praise of the Shadow: Long live the Sun and Long Live its Shadow ...

Larga vida al Rey Sol
P’unchaw, el primer fotolibro de Víctor Zea es mucho más que un libro de street photo. Es un canto a su ciudad adoptado, Cusco. Sobre un concepto tan antiguo como atractivo (toda luz arroja una sombra) Víctor urde una magnífica y delicada pieza de orfebrería visual. Cuzco se revela como El Dorado, donde el oro que buscaban los españoles brilla en cada página del libro para desaparecer a continuación como si nunca hubiera estado allí. P´unchaw es un auténtico elogio a la cultura Quechua, a Cusco, pero sobre todo es un Elogio de la Sombra; Larga vida al Sol y Larga Vida a su Sombra…

From the series "P'unchaw" © Víctor Zea

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Álvaro Laiz (b.1981) is a Spanish photographer and artist whose work deals with narratives where traditional culture, nature and industrial development converge. In 2017 he published his first book The Hunt (Dewi Lewis/RM, 2017), a reconstruction of a Moby-Dick-like story of man against nature's most fearsome and efficient predator in the Boreal Jungle: the Siberian tiger. It was presented at Les Rencontres d'Arles 2017 and selected by the British Journal of Photography as Best of 2017. Álvaro´s work has been recognized by a number of institutions including Sony World Photography Awards, World Press Photo, Magnum and Ideas Tap Foundation Visura and Center Santa Fe. He is also the recipient of the 2016 National Geographic Explorer's Grant for his ongoing project "The Edge," a journey following the steps of the paleo-Siberian populations through the Bering Strait Bridge 20,000 years ago to become the first settlers in America.

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3.31.2020

Ninth Year Review

Mariana, Natalia, Walter, Camilo and Juliana with Alejandro Cartagena in Mexico City as part of the event Folio 002 in May 2019

In January 2020, fototazo celebrated its ninth anniversary, giving us our annual opportunity to take a look back at the past year and ahead at plans for 2020.

This is also the "yearly report" required as part of fototazo's 501(c)3 non-profit private operating foundation status.

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Thomas Locke Hobbs shows photobooks to Mariana, Lina, Camilo, Sofía and Daniel during the fototazo Book Dummy Workshop in April 2019

SITE MISSION

The organization's primary mission is to support young, emerging Colombian photographers through microgrants. In 2019, fototazo continued to focus the microgrant program on offering workshops and photography-oriented travel experiences for groups of photographers.

All content on the site works to create viewership to fund the site's primary mission.

In 2019, the microgrant program raised $2,600. Thank you to those who have contributed – this non-profit continues because of your contributions!

The majority of those funds were used to send a group of eight emerging photographers from Medellín to a photography intensive workshop in Mexico in May 2019 at the Centro de la Imagen with Julian Barón, Mariela Sancari and Alejandro Cartagena, as well as to visit museums, galleries and photographer studios while there. This grant benefited a group of eight emerging photographers from Medellín. They are Juliana Henao Alcaraz, Mariana Betancur, Natalia Lopera, Walter Londoño, Lina Piedrahita, Camilo Pérez, Sofía Rojas and Andrés Sánchez.

In addition, Thomas Locke Hobbs joined us in Medellín in April 2019 to offer a book dummy workshop at my home for nine participants: Sofía Rojas, Walter Londoño, Mariana Betancur, Camilo Pérez, Lina Piedrahita, Byron Pazmiño, Natalia Lopera, Daniel Gallego and Juliana Henao.

The group learned four binding techniques on the first day, and on the second day, they printed and bound their work.

When the opportunity arises, fototazo also offers individual grants by pairing photographers with used equipment donated to fototazo. In 2019, Mariana Betancur received a used Nikon Coolpix L830 and Daniel Ochoa received a used Sony DSC-WX80 through this program.

CONTENT

I would like to extend a thank you to all of the 2019 contributors of images and words for their help in providing content for the site.

Over the last few years, I have produced fewer posts as I dedicate more time to the real world projects fototazo is involved in. In 2019, content continued to reflect a focus on Latin America as I actively work to use the site to serve as a bridge between Latin American photographers and an international audience through an English language platform.

In addition to Latin American posts, I also plan to continue to occasionally post essays, interviews and short series.

I would like to extend a thank you to the fototazo Board of Directors composed of business leaders Yaron Ben-Zvi and Raphael Crawford and photographer Amani Willett and also to the fototazo Advisory Board, which includes photographers Laura McPhee and Gabriel Mario Vélez, for another year of service in their roles.

Finally, thank YOU for being a part of this project whether as a reader, contributor, or donor.

We look forward to taking another step in 2020.

All the best,
Tom Griggs