Mexico, a series of contemporary snapshots It didn’t take Daguerre’s invention long to reach Mexican soil. Since then, the masters of the lens have been capturing the country’s private and public life for posterity. Originality is the hallmark of Mexico’s most acclaimed contemporary photographers. Photography took off in Mexico in the early 1840s with the arrival of the first daguerreotype equipment. A newly independent Mexican government had established an amicable relationship with Europe and in less than a year after Louis Jacques Daguerre invented his process, it touched Mexican soil for the first time, finally making it possible to compile a visual record of the country’s history. So, too, did the history of this fledgling art form begin to take shape on silver plates. From the reign of Emperor Maximilian and his wife Charlotte (1864-1867) up until the administration of President Porfirio Díaz and the Mexican Revolution of 1910, new techniques were developed and existing ones honed. Popular subjects were the bourgeoisie of Independent Mexico, the camp followers and guerrillas of the Revolution, indigenous peoples and peasants, the country’s magnificent landscapes, and its Pre-Columbian, colonial and contemporary architecture. In time, different schools emerged whose names and influences are too numerous to list here. Instead, we have chosen to focus on a few whose work has revealed lesser known facets of Mexico to curious onlookers. The Montiel Klint Brothers Fernando and Gerardo Montiel Klint have very different styles and employ techniques that range from the traditional to the experimental. But each has made his unique mark on the world of Mexican contemporary photography. Fernando’s subjects find themselves in scenarios whose surroundings he either uses to his advantage or manipulates to skew our perception of reality, while Gerardo creates a dialectic based on the unconscious and a sense of duality. Aside from their work in advertising, the Montiel Klints have won prizes at photography biennials in Mexico and abroad and have shared their vision of the world with a dozen or so galleries all over the globe. Yolanda Andrade Andrade began dabbling in photography in 1997 and gradually perfected her mastery of light and shade as she immortalized life around her in black and white. In 2003, she ventured into the world of digital photography and started experimenting with color. Not only did she rediscover the landscapes of her own day to day but also was inspired to portray the colors of Mexico’s streets, its popular culture and traditions, and those of other parts of the world, which she explores not just through her lens but from the perspective of other visual art forms, such as the plastic arts and film, too. Dante Busquets Many contemporary photographers continue to portray Mexico and what they consider “Mexican” from a traditional angle. Not Dante Busquets, whose leitmotiv is Mexico’s middle class. Busquets isn’t interested in depicting the overexploited worker or the dispossessed but those closest to him, his peers, who struggle to understand themselves as they subsist between the corporate cronies who provide them with a paycheck and the factory workers and farmhands who fill their bellies. Gabriel Figueroa Flores Architecture, the buildings that are a physical reminder of a place’s history, is Gabriel Figueroa Flores’ subject of choice. Nomad and adventurer, he has turned the bricks and mortar he actively seeks out or comes across on his travels into the foundations of a visual narrative told from behind the camera lens. In most of his photos, the background is transformed, more into an element of the building that substantiates the photo than to complement or serve as a basis for its frame and composition. On observing it closely, the spectator can find connections between what appears to be the central focus of the photograph and the nature of the site, whose distinguishing features have been hewn from the evolution of mankind and society. Rubén Ortiz Rubén Ortiz Torres’ experience as a plastic artist has pushed him to cross traditional lines in terms of both the composition of his photographs and the materials he uses. Not content with merely capturing an image or creating something and then photographing it, he intervenes the photograph itself to create an object of visual art or compose a new one using the same process. His vision encompasses general topics we can all identify with and matters closer to his heart, like the relationship between Mexico and the US and the identities created by states on either side of the border. It is in that cultural syncretism that transcends its countries of origin that Ortiz Torres finds inspiration. Livia Corona Some looks are capable of opening doors. Livia Corona’s not only opens them but goes through them and transforms what is behind them. This photographer has earned greater recognition since she crossed the threshold of Mexican homes; not the traditional family abode, but the ever-expanding mass of housing estates that is altering the urban environment and the people who live in them. Aware that the architecture of the physical space we inhabit influences our social and interpersonal relationships, Corona demolishes walls with her camera so we can glimpse at the stories, dreams, frustrations, expectations, plans and emotions that hide behind them.lution of mankind and society. Gerardo Suter More than images, Gerardo Suter creates spaces, bodies and figures that will later assume their place in the final photograph. There is a three-dimensional quality about his work, created by the object being photographed, its intervention and the final product. Versed in the techniques of traditional photography, Suter’s hands-on experience gave him the tools to start composing his own chiaroscuros. Architecture is a recurring theme in his work, not only as a subject but also as a medium, opening up possibilities for large-format photography, while leaving him more room for experimentation. Pedro Meyer No list of contemporary Mexican photographers would be complete without a mention of the name Pedro Meyer. His has been a lengthy career, during which he has immortalized decades of Mexican history, depicted a society, a country and its contrasts with other parts of the world. Describing his work is almost impossible because of the sheer variety of topics that have caught his keen, observant eye, turning everyday scenes and objects into works of art with a story to tell and intervening others. An artistic legacy, shored up by more than 200 exhibitions at galleries and museums in America, Europe and Asia. Meyer’s personal journey has taken him from analog to digital and contributed to the development of photographic concepts and processes. But he has taken time out to join forces with cultural institutions and pass on his knowledge to budding young Mexican photographers and encourage them to experiment. promexico.gob.mx/documentos/revista-negocios/html/2014-11/english/11-2014/theLifestyle/art03.html
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 06:08:38 +0000
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