Excerpts from my photo series "Altares"
Out of the artists in my presentation, one artist who I most relate to with my work is Graciela Iturbide because her work deals with culture, spiritualism, religion, and documentary. Those are the themes that I decided to tackle with my BFA project, a series I titled "Altares." The project followed my mother, who has been practicing paganism for most of my life and documented her prayers and rituals in her space. I photographed her practice as an observer, and as someone who has never been religious but has always been curious about the spiritual and cultural processes behind different religions and gods. Most of the artists I chose were photographers that shot a lot of documentary photos, like Nicholas Nixon. Documentary is the genre of photography that I shoot the most of and is the reason I selected five photographers who shoot photo essays, or document places or time periods.
"Altares" was shot over the course of a year, over six photoshoots and nine informal sessions. There were many times when my mother was preparing for a seance or setting up her altar, and I grabbed a camera off the shelf and captured an "in-between" moment, or waited for the right moment after a ceremony to photograph icons and artifacts. Out of these in-between moments arose still lives of altars and out of my sessions arose the portraiture of my veiled mother in moments of worship. The artists I shared connected to me because I relate to their ability to document their world and create a connection with their surroundings and create a narrative.
No comments:
Post a Comment