Santiago Cano
Location: Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia
Request: Canon EF-S 55-200mm f/4-5.6 mm lens, 8GB CF card, replacement tripod plate
Grant Status: $325 of $325 (100%). Santiago will be contributing $50 to the microgrant.
Donate here.
Biography/Biografía
My name is Santiago Piedrahita Cano. I'm 22 and currently in my fifth semester of Fine Arts at the Fundación Universitaria Bellas Artes. I find in photography an immediate and instantaneous form for capturing emotions, sensations and a range of visual experiences. The camera, no matter how simple or complex it is, is indispensable for the ongoing development of my work as an artist; the image in and of itself is the first tool in which my creative process takes form. Photography allows the capturing of images that in the short-, medium- and long-term recreate memories and activate emotion. Memory is a fundamental element for the development of my work. It leads me to encounters with the roots, the nuances and the emotions of each moment experienced by the body and the senses. My interest arises in my father's empirical and amateur learning of photography in his youth. Using an analog camera and a few lights, he photographed every moment he shared with me and my brother. The sensitivity in the photographs I see as a reflection of his affection for his hobby, and it also has set me on a technical and emotional search that will allow me to express naturally and simply through photographic captures what words are unable to.
Mi nombre es Santiago Piedrahita Cano, tengo 22 años y actualmente curso el quinto semestre de artes plásticas en la Fundación Universitaria Bellas Artes, encuentro en la fotografía el vehículo inmediato e instantáneo para la captura de emociones, sensaciones y diversas experiencias visuales, la cámara sin importar su complejidad, es un elemento indispensable para el libre desarrollo de mi obra como artista, la imagen misma es la primera herramienta que encarna el proceso de creación; la fotografía permite el registro de imágenes que a corto, mediano o largo plazo recrean memorias y activan la emoción. La memoria es base fundamental para la elaboración de mi trabajo, conduce al encuentro con las raíces, los matices y emociones de cada instante vivenciado por el cuerpo y cada uno de los sentidos. Mi interés nace en el aprendizaje empírico y aficionado que tuvo mi padre en su juventud por la fotografía, haciendo uso de una cámara análoga y unas cuantas luces, fotografió cada instante que compartía conmigo y con mi hermano, la sensibilidad que encuentro en las fotografías que quedan como evidencia de su afición, inicia en mí una búsqueda técnica y emotiva que me permitan a través de capturas fotográficas expresar con naturalidad y sencillez lo que la palabra no logra pronunciar.
Statement
Retrospective and Absence/Retrospectiva y ausencia
The project title refers to the image, "retrospective" as it includes as part of its proposal the intention to bring to mind the image of the past, a photo provided by a family. Among their memories I asked them for help in gathering together the photographs; some are given permanently and others are given with the intention of being returned. The new image in question will be taken and if possible it will be true to the original image, or otherwise it will include the spaces or elements that still exist. It is clear that in some of the photographs the absence of the subject is indicative of their death, or their current state of health that no longer allows them to stand or as a symbol of their vanity or shame in terms of appearing before the lens. The retaking of the photograph prohibits these people from being involved in it, and their possible display in public.
The artistic proposal is housed in the poetic sense of the image and its travel in time. The format of the presentation is the current image and the original image, lowering the tone and saturation of the current image to avoid distracting the viewer and matching the color or lack thereof of the original depending on the situation.
The project lies in the sense of the person who captures the image, and is intended to value both the past and present, leaning towards the traces of the present existent in the past, showing that the past is an indispensable part in the life of every being.
El nivel artístico se resguarda en el sentido poético de la imagen y su viaje en el tiempo. La presentación de las mismas tiene como formato la imagen actual y la imagen pasada, baja su tono y saturación para evitar la distracción del espectador y se ambienta del color o su ausencia dependiendo de su intención.
El proyecto yace en el sentir de quien captura la imagen, y tiene como intención el otorgar valor al pasado y presente, inclinándose a los rasgos del presente existentes en el pasado, evidenciando que el pasado es parte indispensable en la vida de todo ser.
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