Tuesday, June 29, 2010

irina rozovsky



lovely images by irina. these are specially interesting to me right now. how can we create images that are so close to us and still become universal in a way?
see all her portfolios here

new housing scheme


Los principales organismos del sector habitacional en el País se pusieron de acuerdo y clasificaron las viviendas en seis tipos, según su valor en salarios mínimos.
Esto con el fin de hacer más eficientes las operaciones crediticias en el País y tener una mejor segmentación del mercado.
El acuerdo se hizo entre el Infonavit, la Sociedad Hipotecaria Federal, la Comisión Nacional de Vivienda, bancos, Sofoles y Sofomes, Fovissste, la consultora Softec y la Asociación Hipotecaria Mexicana.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

2 Monterrey officials kidnapped

Monterrey, capital of Nuevo Leon state, was traditionally relatively quiet in part because top drug traffickers parked their families there, taking advantage of the city's top schools and hospitals. But as the notorious Zetas gang fights to challenge the dominance of its onetime patron, the Gulf cartel, gun battles, kidnappings and other violence have spread.

In the first 4 1/2 months of this year, as many people were killed around Monterrey as in the two previous years combined. read the story here

new images from my between borders project..., an estimated 22,700 dead in drug related crimes



the los angeles times has kept this part of its site up with information about the war on drugs in mexico. even though it is just a news oriented site, it is a place to see the magnitude of the social change this war has had on our land.

we live in a mexico that is somewhat very scary but still enjoyably livable. this project is an exploration on a rural lifestyle that is seen by me in an idyllic manner. these people are brave in attitude and i empathize with the idea of standing up for the space you love and in which you want to live.





"Though the project is based in the US/México border which has become a battle ground in the past months, I feel the urge to deconstruct the image of the somewhat stereotyped violent view of the border by investigating and representing the lifestyles of the people who decide to stay in between the turmoil and peace. In a way, it seems that my intent of escaping that view of the border is a subconscious romanticizing of a past (semi) calm urban life of which we have been deprived of as citizens of northern mexico".






Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Jonathan Blaustein



I had a really good chat with jonathan about his project the edge of empire and where he is taking it. it is definitely an exciting series and worth a viewing.

emily shur



I am back from two weeks of travel to Mazatlan to impart a workshop on urban landscape, to portland for a solo show and last but not least to centers review santa fe in new mexico. i will be posting some images from people i met whose work i liked and enjoyed chatting with.

emily shur is a very fun photographer whose work on japan titled shizenkan, seems to me to be a search for an understanding of space as an understanding of one's self. she also does really great editorial work.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

solo show at bluesky gallery in portland OR


ALEJANDRO CARTAGENA : "Suburbia Mexicana, Cause and Effect"

Encouraged by the Mexican government, developers in nine cities of the metropolitan area of Monterrey, Mexico, have taken advantage of the cheapest land available to construct new housing for sale to lower- and middle-income families. More than 300,000 new homes have been built in this region since 2001. Evoking traditions established by the New Topographics photographers of the 1970s and 1980s, photographer Alejandro Cartagena has in recent years been documenting this complex story of unhampered sprawl.

"Suburbia Mexicana, Cause and Effect" is comprised of five distinct parts, as seen here. Together, Cartagena’s images create a visual narrative of dramatic, wide-scale urban transformation. He captures the finished, vacant developments waiting to be inhabited, the older, deserted neighborhoods left behind, as well as the environmental impact of nearby rivers drying to a trickle to support growing populations. Through a combination of traditional landscape, abstract formalism, and documentary motifs, Cartagena invites the viewer into a montage of contemporary Mexican suburbia that is at once informative and beautiful.

DOMESTIC Struggle for domestic