Souvenirs. 2000-2003

Souvenirs. 2000-2003. An approach to the urban landscape, a closer look at the objects that define the city of Caracas, in all its chaotic dimension, and our relation as individuals with it. I have put a special accent on Caracas, my hometown, a metropolis that changes continually into two dimensions: that of informality, constituted basically by the shanty towns –the most common architectural wise living condition in what some call the Third World–, and secondly by the areas that have been formally designed and “planned”.

living condition in what some call the Third World–, and secondly by the areas that have been formally designed and “planned”. In general terms, urban chaos and the discourse of violence have spread all over the city, therefore changing the relationship between citizens and their surroundings. Feliz Viaje -1992-2000 (Bon Voyage).A look at death as the only possible way of putting together the images that bear witness to what was and will be. The series takes a romantic look at death as a mythical, heroic, long awaited development. It explores a space for the tragedy that no longer exists in western contemporary society in which death has become the norm and grief suppressed.Format: 50×60 B&W; prints.Primer cuerpo, primera sección -1909-2000 (Part One, Section One).This “archeology” of the disaster began with the tragedy in Venezuela in December 1999. Several days of continuous rain culminated in the floods in which more than twenty thousand died. The exact number of victims is still unknown. This catastrophe, Latin America's greatest in the twentieth century, also changed the geography of the central north coast of Venezuela, in which the mudslides swept away whole villages and wiped the anatomy of these places clean off the map.

In the last 15 years, I have been working as a photographer. After many years of studying the history and the ideas related to this discipline, I have become aware of the importance of photography in the representation of contemporary ideas. Most of the time I have concentrated my studies and research in projects developed in Latin American countries, as well as in the work done in North America and Europe. Installation, performance, video and film studies have also been relevant to my investigations.

North America and Europe. Installation, performance, video and film studies have also been relevant to my investigations.At this point of my career, I see my work located somewhere between that of a urban archeologist, a social researcher and an artist. The photographs of my latest series Souvenirs (Cartography in Progress), are part of a visual notebook that accumulates images product of my wanderings around the city.