Q) Your work captures a range of emotions and stories. Which photograph or series do you feel most personally connected to, and why?
A) Those photographs that have been an act of courage, of standing up to the world and saying, “This is me, this is how I am.” Stripping away the layers of clothing to show the person, the naked self. The body expressing and projecting the person.
Q) In your ongoing series about ‘guys vs conservative systems,’ what narratives are you exploring, and what has been the response from your audience?
A) This series is an ongoing project still without a name, it’s almost ready, but I have been showing parts of it. I’m honest in saying that I take photographs for art and pleasure, to make people think, enjoy, and share something beautiful. And this has been a process that started with my “liberation” from the political environment through the creation of beautiful images and now, through these, politics are criticized, and politics are done in other ways, in another trench. This series draws from events in my life and those of the subjects, in their confrontation, success, or defeat, against vertical and conservative systems: the government, family, capitalism, corporations. The photographs from the series are for me and the guys, and it’s evident that in the images where we converge, the response has been very favorable.
Q) Photogrammetry offers a unique digital representation of our lives. Can you explain how you integrate this technology into your artistic expression?
A) Just as I love images and visual arts, I love technology, it’s a facet I’ve always developed. In this exploration, photogrammetry came along, which is the creation of 3D models with multiple photographs, mainly used to transfer objects, terrain, and more into the digital realm. I have this idea of believing that we live in a kind of simulation, I have no data but I have no doubts, haha, and this is where I use photogrammetry to create 3D portraits in allusion to that idea of the simulation and those avatars or characters that live in it.
Q) As someone who has lived and worked between Mexico City and Guadalajara, how do these environments influence your artistic vision?
A) I go back and forth all the time, and my most stable relationship has been with Mexico City. I got to know Guadalajara in recent years, and I liked it a lot because it offers the experience of a provincial city without giving up several advantages of a metropolis. Mexico City is a surreal, liberal, and explosive chaos, while Guadalajara is shy and conservative but with many expressions of diversity. Living between the two keeps my mind flowing into much of what happens on the spectrum of life in Mexico.
Q) Could you describe a particularly memorable photo shoot that profoundly impacted your perspective on art and activism?
A) Yes, with Fernando, a contemporary dance artist, in Mexico City. That day, I found the piece that was missing for the motive I was looking for in photography. Fernando is Mexican; he was working in a dance company in Europe and had to return to Mexico. At the time I met him, his career was a bit stalled, and he was working supporting his family’s restaurant. We created that image of Fernando on the microwave, and it was when I put that cup inside that I connected with my last tedious 2 years in the office and Fernando’s reality. That’s when I understood that I could use photography, in my way, to do politics.
Q) How do you balance the aesthetic and political dimensions in your photography?
A) By creating a counterbalance. Nudity is the counterbalance. Why? Because in politics, nudity is almost always considered obscene and scandalous. The curious thing is that I have never known anything as obscene as the performance of politicians in reality, and that is never a scandal, it is normality. However, the naked body is normality, the frontal, naked person is an affront to the double standards of politics.
Q) Looking at the evolution of your style and themes, what changes have you noticed in your approach to photography over the years?
A) I’ve been taking portraits for 10 months. I already had some technical experience in equipment use, but I have learned a lot recently. In my transition from an environment of the “common” to the projection of the “individual,” I now pay close attention to personal and unique expressions.=
Q) What challenges do you face when capturing the essence of Latin American youth in your photography?
A) Being faithful in reflecting each person’s personality in my portraits, with the particularities of the social and political context of their region, and on the other hand, avoiding falling into clichés. My photography at this moment seeks to be a projection of the individual outward, how they look, feel, and think. I thought it would be more complicated to produce some nude images because if you touch people of my generation, nudity is still taboo. Centennials have a freer and more open mindset; conservatism seems defeated before them.
Q) As we part ways, what is the next big idea or project you’re excited to explore?
A) I want to continue developing 3D portraits with photogrammetry; currently, I have several to finish and share. Also, I’ve been letting the experience I’ve been having over the last 3 months guide me, spending some time in the northern region of the country where I grew up. Many feelings from my childhood that I didn’t remember are surfacing. Let’s see where it leads
