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| From the series "Los Jales" © Ray Govea |
Hannah Frieser, Jaime Permuth and I are collaborating to explore contemporary photography in Mexico. We're looking at trends and how they relate to traditions; events, institutions and venues; as well as pursuing conversations with curators, academics, gallerists and photographers on what's happening currently. This collaborative project will feature a variety of types of posts including interviews, book reviews, published letters, portfolios of images and more.
Hannah Frieser is a curator, photographer and book artist and former Executive Director of Light Work. Jaime Permuth is a Guatemalan photographer living and working in New York City and a Faculty Member at the School of Visual Arts.
We have been collaborating with the photographer Alejandro Cartagena as part of this project. Cartagena has overseen and executed a series of short interviews with photographers from Mexico and today we continue this series with an interview of Ray Govea by Cartagena. A statement by Govea on the work follows the interview.
Other posts in this series include:
Interview with Ramón Jiménez Cuén
Interview with Laurence Salzmann
Interview with Diego Berruecos
Interview with Mariela Sancari
Q&A with Eduardo Jiménez Román
Q&A with Claudia Arechiga
Q&A with Nahatan Navarro
Contemporary Photography in Oaxaca
Q&A with Aglae Cortés
Q&A with Maria José Sesma
Interview with César Rodríguez
Q&A with Nora Gómez
Q&A with Melba Arellano
Q&A with Jorge Taboada
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| From the series "Los Jales" © Ray Govea |
This interview is presented first in an English translation by Nataly Castaño, then followed by the Spanish original.
Alejandro Cartagena: Where do you live and what you do?
Ray Govea: I live in Pachuca Hidalgo. I am a photographer.
AC: How did you get started in photography?
RG: Since I was 18-years-old I was interested in learning how to use the camera. Since then I've been practicing and studying with local teachers, in workshops, certificate programs and most recently in the Programa de Fotografía Contemporánea (Contemporary Photography Program) and now in the Seminario of the Centro de la Imagen.
AC: When and what made you start considering producing photographic work to explore your personal concerns?
RG: The necessity to photograph, the impulse to keep making and making made me have a strong interest in finding my own style. In this search we find that there are things that interest you more, themes that you don't think can be made into an image, but this changes when you are able to find what it means, what drives you. When I found this, I understood that it was time to start producing.
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| From the series "Los Jales" © Ray Govea |
AC: Tell us about some of your projects and the themes you approach through the images we are presenting.
RG: I was interested in the photographic practice, in the walking and exploring of spaces with a camera on my shoulder, meditating and thinking of the place I live in, relating and adapting myself to these spaces.
In "Los Jales," a creative project that I have not finished, my interest lies in the conjectures derived from these spaces of large extension covered by toxic waste in the center of the city that I live in.
In "Los Jales," a creative project that I have not finished, my interest lies in the conjectures derived from these spaces of large extension covered by toxic waste in the center of the city that I live in.
AC: How do you think about the history of Mexican photography in your work?
RG: It is very important to know about all these photographers that take on themes with images that serve to signify us to the rest of the world. In particular, knowing about photographers that work with the landscape has helped me to create a character and style of my own for approaching the making of photographs.
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| From the series "Los Jales" © Ray Govea |
AC: Do you believe that there is any relationship in subject matter, form or any other aspect between photography in Mexico and the rest of Latin America?
RG: They are very similar and relate in the themes that they take on. Our countries suffer and enjoy the same situations, share a language and the problem of migration to the north concerns everyone. Globalization without a doubt leaves a mark in our photographic production but the style and form of Latin authors is very defined.
AC: What are the issues being addressed both in contemporary photography in Mexico and outside of Mexico that interest you?
RG: I'm very interested in themes that have to do with space. The array of themes that Mexican artists are taking on is very diverse. Besides landscape, recurrent themes include identity, diversity, migration and women, just to mention some.
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| From the series "Los Jales" © Ray Govea |
AC: What do you feel benefits you or is a problem with being based in Mexico?
RG: In Mexico there are a lot of people interested in supporting photography, pushing production and disseminating artwork. Personally I've received a lot support from professors and institutions but the main support has come from my family.
I think that we have many of the best photographers in history alive. They are professors in every sense of the word and have taken into their hands any and all photographic tasks. They are also creating and pushing educative systems that allow for new and different expressions from which international references in contemporary art are emerging.
I think that we have many of the best photographers in history alive. They are professors in every sense of the word and have taken into their hands any and all photographic tasks. They are also creating and pushing educative systems that allow for new and different expressions from which international references in contemporary art are emerging.
AC: Anything you'd like to say about contemporary photography in general?
RG: For me photography is a way of rooting myself as an individual from a defined place with a stance of what I know and what I want to say from this place that I exist, to confront the conscious of the collective and to project part of my subjectivity into each photograph.
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| From the series "Los Jales" © Ray Govea |
Spanish original / Texto original en español
Alejandro Cartagena: ¿Dónde vives y a qué te dedicas?
Ray Govea: Vivo en Pachuca Hidalgo. Hago fotografía.
AC: ¿Cómo te iniciaste en la fotografía?
RG: Desde los 18 años me interesó aprender a usar la cámara. Desde entonces he estado practicando y estudiando la imagen con maestros locales, en talleres, diplomados, recién en el Programa de Fotografía Contemporánea y ahora el Seminario del Centro de la Imagen.
AC: ¿Cuándo y que te hizo empezar a considerar producir trabajo fotográfico que explorara tus inquietudes personales?
RG: La necesidad de fotografiar, el impulso de estar haciendo y haciendo me fue llevando a tomar un interés total por encontrar un estilo propio. En esta búsqueda encontramos que hay cosas que te interesan más, temas que no piensas puedan llevarse a una imagen, pero esto cambia cuando logras encontrar lo que te significa, lo que te pulsa. Cuando encontré esto entendí que era tiempo de empezar a producir.
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| From the series "Los Jales" © Ray Govea |
AC: Platícanos un poco de tus proyectos y los temas que abordas en las imágenes que estamos presentando.
RG: Me intereso por la práctica fotográfica, este andar y recorrer el espacio con la cámara al hombro, meditar y pensar el lugar que habito, relacionarme y apropiarme de estos espacios.
En "Los Jales" que es un proceso creativo, que aún no culmina, mi interés radica en las conjeturas derivadas de estos espacios de grandes extensiones de campo cubierto de materiales y desechos tóxicos que existen en el centro de la ciudad en la que vivo.
En "Los Jales" que es un proceso creativo, que aún no culmina, mi interés radica en las conjeturas derivadas de estos espacios de grandes extensiones de campo cubierto de materiales y desechos tóxicos que existen en el centro de la ciudad en la que vivo.
AC: ¿De qué manera consideras la historia de la fotografía Mexicana en tu obra?
RG: Es de mucha importancia el conocer a todos estos autores, ya que abordan los temas con imágenes que nos significan del resto del mundo, en lo particular tratar y conocer a autores que trabajan con el paisaje me ha generado un carácter y estilo propio para abordar la imagen.
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| From the series "Los Jales" © Ray Govea |
AC: ¿Encuentras alguna relación de temas, forma o cualquier otro aspecto entre la fotografía en México y la del resto de America Latina?
RG: Es muy parecido y se relacionan en cuanto a los temas que se abordan, nuestros países sufren y gozan de las mismas situaciones, el idioma y el problema de la migración al norte nos concierne a todos. La globalización sin duda deja huella en la producción fotográfica pero aun así el estilo y forma de los autores latinos es muy definida.
AC: ¿Cuáles son los temas qué están siendo tratados en la fotografía contemporánea en México y también afuera de México que te interesen?
RG: Me interesan los temas que tienen que ver con el espacio. Y es muy diverso el abanico de temas que están tratando los artistas mexicanos, encuentro recurrente además de el paisaje, temas sobre identidad, diversidad, migración, mujeres, solo por mencionar algunos.
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| From the series "Los Jales" © Ray Govea |
AC: ¿Qué sientes te beneficia o problematiza producir desde México?
RG: En México hay mucha gente interesada en apoyar a la fotografía impulsando producción y difusión de obra. En lo personal he recibido mucho apoyo de maestros e instituciones pero el mayor esfuerzo lo ha llevado mi familia.
Pienso que tenemos a muchos de los mejores autores vivos de la historia, maestros en todos los sentidos que han tomado en sus manos el rumbo del quehacer fotográfico, también creando e impulsando sistemas educativos de dónde están emergiendo nuevas y diferentes expresiones, referentes internacionales del arte contemporáneo mundial.
AC: ¿Algo que quisieras comentar sobre la fotografía contemporánea en general?
RG: Para mi la fotografía es un medio de plantarme como individuo desde un lugar y con una postura definida de lo que sé y quiero decir de el lugar en el que existo, hacer frente a el consciente del colectivo y ante mi mismo proyectando parte de mi subjetividad en cada foto.
RG: En México hay mucha gente interesada en apoyar a la fotografía impulsando producción y difusión de obra. En lo personal he recibido mucho apoyo de maestros e instituciones pero el mayor esfuerzo lo ha llevado mi familia.
Pienso que tenemos a muchos de los mejores autores vivos de la historia, maestros en todos los sentidos que han tomado en sus manos el rumbo del quehacer fotográfico, también creando e impulsando sistemas educativos de dónde están emergiendo nuevas y diferentes expresiones, referentes internacionales del arte contemporáneo mundial.
AC: ¿Algo que quisieras comentar sobre la fotografía contemporánea en general?
RG: Para mi la fotografía es un medio de plantarme como individuo desde un lugar y con una postura definida de lo que sé y quiero decir de el lugar en el que existo, hacer frente a el consciente del colectivo y ante mi mismo proyectando parte de mi subjetividad en cada foto.
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| From the series "Los Jales" © Ray Govea |
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Statement on "Los Jales" (Mining Tailings) by Ray Govea
"That toxic light
comes from Spain, goes to Canada;
shone over a million beggars in England;
will shine over ten million beggars in China,
shines on thousands of beggars in Mexico. "
Unstable dams of fine sludge are the foundation of the future and the present of the city that moves away from its past and the traces of the nineteenth century.
The analysis, comparison and rethinking of the relationship between these dams and a mining town, the meeting/re-counting of this area in the shadow of its valleys, in contrast to the lights of the city, and the conjecture of permeability, the coating. One senses the possible relationship and risks of cyanide from mining tailings, their presence in the air and water of the city.
They are like "Lights of Cyanide" that illuminate the valleys, that point to the future of a subject that must be eradicated, to the management of mining waste, to the obligatory but involuntary transformation of this space and to the assimilation and development of the population exposed to the venom.
"Esa luz toxica
viene desde España, va hacia Canadá;
brilló sobre un millón de mendigos en Inglaterra;
brillará sobre diez millones de mendigos en China,
brilla sobre miles de mendigos en México."
Presas inestables de lodos finos son el cimiento del futuro y presente de la ciudad que parten del pasado, las huellas de siglo XIX.
El análisis, comparación y repensamiento de la relación entre estas presas y una ciudad minera, el encuentro-recuento de la zona en la penumbra de sus valles, en contraste con las luces de la ciudad, y la conjetura de la permeabilidad, el revestimiento. Intuye la posible relación y riesgos del cianuro de los Jales, su presencia en el aire y agua de la ciudad.
Son como “Luces de Cianuro” que los iluminan, apuntan y así en lo sucesivo al sujeto que debe erradicarse, el manejo de los desechos de las minas, la obligada pero involuntaria transformación de este espacio y la asimilación y desarrollo de la población expuesta al veneno.
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Alejandro Cartagena lives and works in Monterrey, Mexico. His projects employ landscape and portraiture as a means to examine social, urban and environmental issues in the Latin-American region.
His work has been exhibited internationally in festivals like CONTACT in Toronto, The FIF in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, GuatePhoto festival in Guatemala City, FOTOFEST in Houston and UNSEEN by FOAM in Amsterdam among others. Alejandro's work has been published internationally in magazines and newspapers such as Newsweek, Le Monde, The Guardian, The Independent, The New York Times Lens Blog, PDN, The New Yorker, and Wallpaper among others. His book Suburbia Mexicana was published by Photolucida and Daylight books in 2011.
He has received the Photolucida Critical Mass Book Award, the SNCA-CONACULTA grant for Mexican artists, the Premio IILA-Fotografia 2012 award in Rome, the Street Photography Award in London and a POYi reportage award of excellence, the Lente Latino award in Chile, the award Salon de la Fotografia from the Fototeca de Nuevo Leon in Mexico among other awards. He has been named a FOAM magazine Talent and one of PDN Magazine's 30 emerging photographers. He has also been a finalist for the Aperture Portfolio award, the Photoespaña Descubrimientos award, the FOAM Paul Huff award and has been nominated for the CENTER Santa Fe photography prize.
His work is in many private and public collections. He is currently represented by Circuit Gallery in Toronto, Kopeikin Gallery in Los Angeles and Galería Patricia Conde in Mexico City.