851. Peewee Morato | Images drawn from your article photography ...kosovo

  Date: Sun, May 9, 1999, 9:16 AM   speaking of images, the stark image that was formed in my mind when i read your article "photography and its trails out of kosovo" was no other than the halocaust. the plight of the jews, first through persecution which then escalated into their almost complete annihilation, left a mark on me. the feeling is indignation!!! this feeling comes from narrative accounts and from still photographs and from motion pictures depicting the terrible, terrible saga of a people singled out for death. reading through however gave me hope, because the thoughtful images i derived from reading your account, i could voice out and express through the internet. i live in the philippines and an uncle from australia sent me your article which moved me to forward it to my personal quick list. it is my way of not looking the other way amidts the terrible, terrible suffering of a people... a whole race... while others sat by doing nothing, or perhaps were completely oblivious to it. at least, let us all be aware.i am afraid this is happening all over again in kosovo. the internet somehow diminishes my feelings of powerlessness over circumstances that seem beyond me,living so far away. the trail of photographs left by some of the refugees to mark the path for an escape route for their loved ones left me with the image of "hanzel and Gretel", ofcourse. i'm sure this is the fairy-tale which could have inspired the desperate wife wanting to guide her husband to safety. fortunately, birds don't happen to eat paper, and so the refugees reached the albanian frontier merely following the paper trail.  

Sunday, 09 May 1999

853. Frank Blocker, Jr.

  Date: Sun, May 9, 1999, 9:50 PM   Dear Sir, Your site is well laid out. I particularly like the calibration feature. Thanks for the site. Sincerely, Frank Blocker, Jr.  

Sunday, 09 May 1999

855. Norberto Romero Z.

  Date: Sat, May 8, 1999, 10:30 AM   Pedro: Mi nombre es Norberto y soy un estudiante mexicano de fotografía en la Universidad de Westminster en Londres (antes "The Polythecnic of Central London"), y solo quiero felicitarte por el estupendo trabajo que estan realizando en ZoneZero, una de mis páginas preferidas y que tiene muy buena crítica entre algunos de mis profesores.   Considero que el cuestionamiento que se esta dando en tu revista, acerca de los efectos que tiene la revolución tecnológica sobre la manera en que vemos y apreciamos la imagen, es muy importante y no muy común, por lo que le suma mérito.   Hasta pronto, Norberto Romero Z.  

Saturday, 08 May 1999

857. Of Pianos and Oranges

  I recently spoke with Pedro Meyer. We talked about the tools we make at Fractal and how people use them. Pedro expressed an interest in the design process that goes along with creating expressive tools like Painter. What follows are some of my thoughts on the tool-making process. I'll start with a bit of personal background.   My own schooling is in the traditional arts. I have both BFA and MFA degrees in drawing and painting, as well as a period of living as a "struggling artist" under my belt. This provides me with a strong grounding in traditional expressive media. I was heavily influenced by the Abstract Expressionist school, especially the work of Robert Rauchenberg and Jasper Johns. Both artists intermixed graphic imagery and expressionistic painting. As in their work, I employed a variety of techniques to incorporate existing images with my painting and drawing.     My first direct encounter with computer-generated imagery occurred in 1982. I had the opportunity to do some freelance work for the local cable television operator creating "frames" of graphics for an experimental interactive channel. The idea was that you could shop, do banking, play games, etc. through your cable hook-up. To create the graphics, I had to work with special grid paper and a fixed set of colors.   For example, I'd be given a number of visual ideas to be used for clues that were part of a children's spelling game. I'd use the grid paper and color combinations to create a mosaic-like image of an apple tree. This frame would appear at the appropriate moment in the sequence of clues to help the player spell the word "apple". After designing a number of these images, I would turn the sheets in to the computer operator who would, in turn, keyboard the grid squares sequentially into the computer. The result would be a crude "mosaic" of the image on the monitor.   I'll never forget the first time I saw one of my designs glowing on the monitor screen. Some basic thing was forever changed in the way I thought about making images. This was something new and amazing. It was the birth of a medium!   As fascinating as it was, however, the method of creating the images was very foreign to someone with a background in painting and drawing. I spent a couple of years working for the Nebraska Arts Council as an artist-in-residence. This provided me with the opportunity to educate myself about computer graphics. I attended conferences like SIGGRAPH and took a few programming courses. I quickly determined my talents were not in writing code.   I also became acquainted with small software company in Santa Rosa, California. The company was Time Arts and had a product named Lumena. Lumena was one of the first PC-based paint systems. It featured a toolset that included pens and brushes. It was also based around the use of a digitizing tablet as an input device. This immediately appealed to me because of the familiarity of the tools and the stylus-based mark-making instrument. It also supported 256 colors, which in 1984 was rare for a personal computer.   One thing led to another, and I found myself moving to Santa Rosa to work for Time Arts as a demo artist. Once there, I quickly gravitated to the programmers. These were the people who crafted the code that comprised Lumena. I was fascinated by what inspired them to come up with the tools in the first place. They, in turn, were fascinated by my art background and talent. What amazed me was that they would lovingly craft a mark-making tool and then have little interest in using it. They quickly discovered that they could have me play with the tools and provide them with feedback as to how to improve it.   My rudimentary knowledge of programming provided me with enough understanding to be able to communicate with the programmers in their jargon. It was as if I was present while a blacksmith formed a piece of red hot iron on the anvil with a hammer. I had the opportunity to suggest certain bends and shapes while the iron was malleable. Once the metal was cooled down, I could look at it and see my contribution in the final form. I had been transformed from a tool user into a tool maker. I would never again be satisfied with just being a tool user.   During my tenure at Time Arts I became proficient at tool and interface design. I was able to fully exercise my skills on the design of a Macintosh-based paint application called Oasis. Oasis introduced the Macintosh world to the pressure-sensitive tablet. Time Arts had embraced CAD-based digitizing tablets very early and had kept pace of tablet developments as they occurred. We had created many tools in Lumena that used pressure in different ways. I was always advocating various ways of using pressure sensitive tablets to simulate traditional media. Oasis provided us with the opportunity to start from scratch and evolve our tools and interface to the next level. Oasis received a lot of attention but ultimately failed in the marketplace due to Time Arts' inability to muster the resources required to sell and market shrink-wrap retail software. The other reason was another piece of software that showed up around the same time...Painter.   The very first time I saw an early beta version of Painter, I immediately knew that Time Arts heyday as the leader in creative mark-making tools was over. It didn't take long before I made a beeline for Fractal. I immediately hit it off well with Mark Zimmer and Tom Hedges, the engineering talent behind Painter (and ImageStudio and ColorStudio previously). In particular, Mark had a passion for creating tools that simulated traditional media. We discovered in each other a perfect complement to each of our skill sets.   Now that I've provided you with a snapshot of how I became a tool maker, I'd like to step back and describe some of the guiding principles we have developed at Fractal that we use to keep us aimed at our initial vision.   One of the phrases we use to describe what we do at Fractal is "capturing the human gesture for the purpose of creative personal expression". In its broadest sense, this is what Painter does. Our approach to crafting creative software is parallel to crafting musical instruments. We create instruments of expression. Natural media software is the graphic equivalent of synthesizers that mimic traditional musical instruments. Along with this lies a deep respect for the traditions and techniques of creative mark-making tools. The way in which man makes marks to express himself has evolved over a great deal of time.   With the advent of the computer, many of the early techniques for digital drawing and painting were tailored to suit the strengths of the computer and its interface. The mouse is a good example. As a pointing device used in the service of navigating graphical interfaces the mouse is great. But when used as a expressive drawing instrument, it leaves a lot to be desired. I have often said that drawing with a mouse is like drawing with a bar of soap. The shape of the mouse does not provide the feel of a stylus in the hand. A lot of the mark-making characteristics of stylus-based tools are imparted into it through way an artist can adjust its angle an direction by wrist and finger motion.   More importantly, a mouse cannot detect pressure. A pressure-sensitive stylus is the optimal form factor to correctly duplicate traditional mark-making instruments whose tip is the delivery mechanism for the marks it makes. A great deal of the subtlety imparted into an expressive line by an artist is due to the varying hand pressure applied as the line is rendered. Pressure-sensitive input is only half of the story, however. Once the artist's gestural motion is captured, it needs to be interpreted by software that can do something with it.   Painter's initial charter was to faithfully replicate, as closely as possible, the catalog of traditional mark-making instruments used for expressive purposes. Mark and Tom's initial efforts centered on maximizing the data that streams from a pressure-sensitive tablet and creating a texture technology that interacts with the tablet data in real-time. Starting with the humble 2B lead pencil, Painter has grown into an extensive library of traditional mark-making tools recast into a digital medium. We use the term "Natural Media®" to refer to this technology. The library is by no means complete, but we continue to add to it with each new software release.   In recasting these tools into the digital realm, several major goals are accomplished. First, by utilizing the long-standing traditions of mark-making as a "first principle" of natural-media software, the computer becomes a valuable tool to the large number of people already familiar with traditional expressive graphic media. This has the benefit of allowing the artist's style to come through in the work they create with these tools. Secondly, by existing in digital form, media that were formerly thought of as mutually exclusive now flow effortlessly together. This offers the artist a greater range of possibility. Finally, and perhaps even more fundamental, is the fact that all of the major forms of communications media are now digital-based. Natural media software extends the range of expressive human gesture directly into these pervasive communications forms.   If re-casting traditional tools into digital equivalents were the sole charter of Fractal, my story would end here. But there is another core value we use to direct our efforts: Extend the range of expressive mark-making by taking advantage of the unique properties of the computer. In other words, to be able to make marks that no other mark-making tool has made before. This is the area that is most tantalizing to me as a toolmaker...the possibility of being able to contribute to the pantheon of expressive mark-making tools used by artists.   All art-making is wrapped up in creating a unique personal expression. A major challenge in working with expressive media is to take the same basic tools that have often been in use for centuries and arrive at a unique graphic statement. As both an artist and toolmaker, I find it particularly rewarding to be able to transfer this challenge inherently embodied in the use of the tools and extend it to the actual tool-making process.   A few years ago, the technology of 3-dimensional modeling reached the milestone of being able to render a synthetic scene with essentially photographic realism. My first encounter with such an image was a cover of Science magazine in the early '80's. It was an image of a Pixar rendered scene of a billiard table frozen at the moment of several balls in motion. The illusion was stunning. It was amazing to look at these images and realize that they were not of photographic origin. After the initial shock wore off, my response was, "So what? I can photograph the same thing much easier and less expensively." It took a few years, but the magic that lay beyond synthetic reality was fully realized in the landmark special effects that appeared in "Jurassic Park". Here, for all the world, were motion pictures of living dinosaurs. The rational side of our brains told us that they were mere cinematic illusion, and yet our eyes told us we were seeing the impossible.   For me, it is this magic that lies beyond mere imitation I find the most exciting. In 1992, Mark and I were sitting at an outdoor cafe during SIGGRAPH in Chicago. We were having one of our first brain-storming sessions. I pointed at some trees across the street and asked him why I should have to hand paint every leaf on a depiction of a tree. Couldn't we take advantage of the power of the computer to somehow sample an image of a tree and then allow it to proceed and just generate more "tree"? Well, it turns out that is no simple request, even with the power of a computer. What we did ultimately end up with is what we call the Image Hose.   The Image Hose is a mark-making tool that uses any group of image elements as a content source and sprays it onto the digital canvas. Using my tree story as an example, you can take a photograph of a tree, scan it into Painter and proceed to use various masking tools to extract individual leaf elements and then spray them out of the Image Hose. The result looks remarkably close to real leaf clusters with the benefit of being able to create an endlessly random tree texture. Once you grasp the technique of the Image Hose, the possibilities are endless. So, here is an example of a tool that uses the fundamental traditions of expressive mark-making as well as extends its vocabulary.   Another example of extending the range of mark-making tools is one that we recently introduced. It actually does "extend" expressive gestures: Net-Painter. As I mentioned earlier, all of the major communications media are now digitally based. A very high-profile aspect of this transformation is the Internet. Suddenly, the inter-connection of many of the computers spawned during the information revolution has reached a critical mass. The potential of an individual reaching a massive global audience has transformed itself into a reality. The meaning of publishing is changing before our eyes. Net Painter technology provides a way to broadcast, via the Internet, creative human gestures interactively to a far-reaching audience. Additionally, it is possible for real-time collaboration on a single image among several people to occur. Net Painter is so new we don't even know at this point exactly what impact it will ultimately have.   Who do we make these tools for? How do we intend for them to be used? I said earlier that we are close cousins to musical instrument makers. I believe our mutual intent is similar with regard to whom we make these instruments for. We initially draw upon our own experience and expertise creating art and then strive to craft the best possible expressive tools that we can. After the tools are in use, our users become co-collaborators by providing us with feedback. Our users, as well as musical instrument users, constitute a wide talent range. And, like a musical instrument such as a guitar or piano, they can be used to create great works of art or absolute drivel.   This is not to say that these tools should not be available to the casual user or hobbyist. A great deal of satisfaction (and frustration) can be experienced through interaction with creative tools, even for a novice. But it is only through disiplined experience with a creative medium that one comes to master personal expression. I can roll an orange on the black keys of a piano and make pretty sounds, but it may not be music.   I don't believe that a toolmaker should judge whether or not the output of their instruments in others' hands is "art". What is absolutely crucial is that they be filled with the zeal to create the best possible instruments their collective talents can muster. Just as the tools are capable of creating art, there is an art to creating the tools. As a toolmaker, the first person I must please is myself.   You can contact John Derry at FractlDsn1@aol.com       http://www.zonezero.com/magazine/articles/derry/derry.html      

Saturday, 08 May 1999

859. So much more to be done!

    The school was near the Kamlapur railway station.The children used to live by the rail lines, in huts made of bamboo, polyethylene, rags and cardboard. I had promised them cameras, and to teach them to take pictures. Go to exhibition  

Thursday, 06 May 1999

861. The Visual Representation of Developing Countries by Developmental Agencies and the Western Media

  Perceptions of the developing world I was staying with friends in Newry in Northern Ireland. Paddy and Deborah had kindly made their five year old daughter1s room available for me. Corrina was friendly and curious and would spend a lot of time in the room. One day as I was clearing my pockets of change I had accumulated, she suddenly remarked, "but you've got money, but, but you're from Bangladesh." The family had just returned from a trip to Bangladesh. Paddy was a development worker and they had visited many of the projects. At the tender age of five, Corrina knew that Bangladeshis did not have money.   Who portrays whom A recent fax from the National Geographic Society Television Division, to our picture library - dedicated to promoting the work of indigenous photographers and writers - asked if we could help them with the production of a film that would include the Bangladeshi cyclone of '91. They wanted specific help in locating "US, European or UN people ..... who would lead us to a suitable Bangladeshi family."   The situation is not unusual. Invariably films about the plight of people in developing countries show how desperate and helpless the people are, the people who realize their plight and come forward to their support are usually white foreigners. In some cases even local people are seen to be helping, but invariably it is a foreigner who has enlightened them about the way out, and it is always a foreign presenter who speaks out for them. The foreigner is so strong and forthright and so caring. She could almost hand over the microphone to them, if only they could speak for themselves, if only they understood.   The construction of a stereotype Wide angle b/w shots, grainy, high contrast images characterize the typical third world helpless victim. Huge billboards with a dying malnourished child in a corner with outstretched arms. A clear message in polished bold font in the top left corner cleverly left blank. The message reads "We shall always be there." A reality constructed for and by those who want us to forget the implications. That "you (the developing world) shall always be there." In that role (a passive existence necessary to be maintained) those who receive aid, the "client group," remain.   The assumptions and how they are validated The end product in all these cases is the same. The Western public gets to see a distorted view of the developing world. A situation for which the public in question can hardly be totally free of blame. School children in the UK think 50-75% of the worlds children are visibly malnourished (the real figure is less than 2%), and that only 10-20% of the world's six to twelve year olds start school (the real figure is almost 90%), and that the rate of population growth in the developing world is increasing (it is decreasing in every part of the developing world including Africa). The fact that a high proportion of the information about the developing world for the average western reader comes from fund raising campaigns is another cause of this gross distortion.   There is of course the other tack where "Third World Participation" is created in the form of guided tours to paid Third World journalists who are given what amounts to a censored view of well to do countries. In a recent tour of the United States organized by the United States Information Agency, I was accompanied throughout by a person from the State Department, and my request to visit Harlem was turned down due to "security reasons." My report on the trip was never made public. That people from the developing world do go on these trips and cater to these forms of tokenism is of course a slur on their own professionalism. Organizations like the World Bank do sponsor studies by people known to be mildly critical, with the proviso, that the World Bank would decide if the work would be published. Thereby retaining ultimate control.   The business of development Every organization has a goal, a means and a method. The apparent goal of donor organizations is to make the recipients self sufficient. For this it uses tax payer's money, usually a fraction of a percent of its GNP. Genuine aid also constitutes a tiny fraction of the recipient's income. The method varies, but invariably involves an input of a lot of personnel, and materials from the donor country which is paid for by the same money that was given out as aid. An organization's growth depends on its ability to generate more work. There are a limited number of recipient countries, a restricted market. All donor agencies compete for this small market. A recipient country that truly becomes self sufficient (unheard of in the history of development), no longer needs a donor. The donor agency, by fulfilling its manifesto would make itself redundant. The same applies for a development worker. The myth of humanitarian aid, however, has long been discarded, and the donors are now openly more concerned about governance, (how we spend their money) and there has been a visible shift towards administering the flow of funds rather than the humanitarian utilization of funds. Donor agencies invariably declare themselves to be non-political. The very act of giving money, or its equivalent, to people who are badly deprived is strongly political. The development worker is in a very powerful position. They are people who have to be pleased if one wants a loan, or access to education, or food.   The truth is, that despite all their claims about delegation, very little decision making involves local people. And very little decision making by the foreign experts involves in-depth local knowledge. It would be hazardous for these foreign experts to permit the infiltration of people who could penetrate their information chain, something that photographs are particularly good at doing. Culture, once considered a hindrance to development has now, become fashionable to promote. But it has to be a particular type of culture packaged in a particular type of way.   The "image business" is inextricably linked with the "development business." From slide shows in remote villages to slick exhibitions in posh hotels, from A5 flyers to coffee table books, from fund raising campaigns to annual reports, image hungry developmental agencies depend heavily on image makers. One feeds off the other. It is hardly surprising therefore that the image producers (read mostly white men photographers) produce images that are good for business for both industries. Development or fair representation doesn't enter the equation.   The Marketing Strategy There is of course the need (amongst industrialized nations) to show the results of donor aid. The recent major feature in the Observer newspaper in the UK on OXFAM, was called the Poverty Supplement, and in Observer's own words "The main aim of the Poverty Supplement was to persuade our readers to support OXFAM's work financially. This was obviously successful." The supplement was in fact an advertisement in the Observer to the tune of about #25,000. Pledges from the Observer readers amounted to a third of the annual budget for OXFAM's development partnerships in Zambia. When a similar proposal was made for CONCERN's projects in Bangladesh, though CONCERN had proposed a local photographer of international standing who had been working on the projects for over six years, and the Observer had initially agreed, they backed out in the last minute, and used a British photographer. They did however use stock photographs from the Bangladeshi photographer, but were only interested in the slum and poverty pictures which were a small part of the total work.   The power of images A camera can be a tool of extreme sensitivity or no sensitivity at all. A photograph can: 1) Be an eye check on memory 2) Give detailed information 3) Show what we cannot see 4) Store away complex data for future analysis More importantly it can influence people and create powerful emotional responses. We are aware of the meaning of words, but forget that images may have different meanings to different people, and that the meaning of a photograph can depend to a large extent on the context in which it is used. "The Camera never lies" is the biggest lie of all.     The need for a different type of education If we are to genuinely work for social change, what direction should developmental education go in? Teach local people about the fruits of good nutrition, family planning, education of their daughters. That is extremely important and is largely being attempted. What about teaching people (particularly development workers) to look for other options besides aid? What of creating role models of Bangladeshis running international developmental organizations, and giving these Bangladeshis the support and the clout necessary for them to succeed? What about foreigners trying to learn Bangla, and veering away from the policy that success in the development ladder correlates directly with a person's competence at English? What about use of images that show a positive aspect of the country rather than the fund collecting images of helpless destitutes? What about not distorting captions by substituting them with dramatized, orientalist plethora? What about desisting from patronizing the government and genuinely working with them rather than creating what is in effect a parallel government? What about teaching those working in development what the word really means?   The credit lines in articles dealing with poorer countries have no indigenous names. When questioned why this was so, picture editors and development workers claimed that there simply weren't people in these countries qualified to do the job. Their reliability, their professionalism, their ability to understand the brief was all suspect. In response we began to make a survey of indigenous photographers working in their own countries. The response, both in terms of numbers and the quality of the work was overwhelming. If a small organization based in Bangladesh armed with no more than lists obtained from interested friends can pool together an impressive list of talented indigenous photographers doing good work in their own countries why has it been so difficult for the development agencies to 'discover' them. Discovery is of course a key word when photographing the natives. The photographer steps down from the plane, 'discovers' the native and goes back with the scoop. That discovery implies past ignorance, seems to never get noticed. Yet there are people who did know the local people, understood their language, were respectful of their culture and understood the underlying causes of things. These are the people, skilled, available and able, who do not exist. They have not been discovered.   The history of photography fails to mention the work done by photographers in poorer countries. While the heroic feats of Hill and Adamson are extolled, the photographers who had to import all their equipment and materials from the wealthier countries and documented their cultures for little financial gain have never been registered in the archives. The few exceptions like Indian photographer Din Dayal, given the title Raja by the British who had been legitimized for having served the crown. Other much more important names in the field from the same period, like Ali Ahmed Khan, never get mentioned, puzzling until one remembers that Khan had led a rebel attack on British troops.   In five years of operation as a picture library based in the developing world, we have had many requests for images of Bangladesh by publishers, NGOs, donor agencies. The most frequently requested picture so far have been of the floods, cyclones, and slums. There was even a request for flood inundation of Dhaka in the floods in '93, which the client insisted had taken place. We have not for instance yet been asked for a picture of a person at a computer terminal, a very commonly stocked photograph in western libraries, and one which we too have several of. In one instance the client, an educational publisher in the UK insisted that our photograph of a tila (little stupa in the middle of a pond, used as cyclone shelters) was much too small and that they knew of huge giant stupas, which local photographers and community workers who had extensively combed the cyclone affected areas had never seen nor heard of.   The danger of being left out is not as great as the danger of being nullified. Books that teach you how to be a successful photographer, The ones that teach you the secrets of the trade, teach essentially how to become occidental. Since the person making the most important decisions regarding the usage of a photograph is invariably the person most distant from the event itself, the photographer's 'formula' for producing acceptable pictures is to regurgitate editorial policy regardless of what is observed. That is what the indigenous photographer must produce if he/she is to get ahead. That is what makes them begin to 'exist.' The danger therefore, is of becoming a sheep in wolf's clothing, and eventually of becoming a wolf.   Pretty much all NGOs seem to have the usual 'income generating activities,' the savings groups where the villagers gather round in a circle and sign the passbook, the functional education classes where village folk are taught urban middle-class expressions that even in cities only get used in formal situations. Where they are taught "the policeman is your friend..." and they know otherwise. Photographs of the activities of a hundred different NGOs would be largely identical. Where is the training to network that the donor circuit itself thrives on? Where is the emphasis on information technology that allows the richer countries to retain their stranglehold? The poor in these countries have been observed, analyzed and understood, but why have they been built a cell with no exit? Why are entire nations guinea pigs for foreign anthropologists, sociologists, economists and photographers?   In a recent effort by an independent agency to install E-Mail in Bangladesh for setting up an inter-nation and a South-South dialogue, it was discovered that many NGOs already had their own dedicated E-Mail line, but had not offered the service to others, even to other NGOs. Information appears to be a resource that people are very secretive about, access to information something developing countries are selectively denied. The nature of the images representing developing countries is an index of the media control that will prevent developing countries from developing. A Halloween song sums up some of the attitudes portrayed:   (Sung to the tune of WE THREE KINGS) We Trick or Treaters in bright costumes are Asking your help for children afar. We want no candy But cash is dandy, Here is our UNICEF jar. Oooooooooooooooooooh   Help the children, in foreign lands, They are starving Ð do what you can, They1ve nothing to eat Ð let alone no treats Reach out and help your fellow man. (there is now a non-sexist version with fellow human).   Shahidul Alam, Dhaka 30th May 1994 shahidul@drik.net       http://www.zonezero.com/magazine/articles/shahidul/shahidul.html      

Thursday, 06 May 1999

863. The Digital Storytelling Festival

  October 13 - 17, 1995, Crested Butte, CO A narrative by Pedro Meyer   Photography is story telling through visual means. I use the camera to tell stories. I now use the computer to make the camera tell ever more interesting ideas, while the internet allows for this marriage - between the computer and the camera - to deliver such stories all over the world. I arrived at Crested Butte,Colorado at night. The sky was heavy with darkness in between the thunder bolts which reminded me of a flash coming from a gigantic camera in space. The Universe was taking pictures of itself at night. I have done that sometimes myself, but never during a rain storm. I think I will try that someday.   Go to exhibition  

Tuesday, 04 May 1999

865. China Notebook

  Heaven and Earth are without pity; To them the ten thousand things are but straw dogs. Lao Tse, sixth century B.C. (from Ten Thousand Things: all life forms)   I still don't know for certain how Mr. B.H. Jiang found me, or why he decided to put his faith in a total stranger. It is one of those things that happens nowadays on the Internet. And, because it happens so casually, so innocently, it takes a while for us to realize that it is altogether marvelous.   It was several months ago that it began. Late one night, as I made a routine check of my e-mail, a new message appeared with the subject "photographer," and it brought with it a rather hefty attachment of files. The address indicated that the message had come from a "jbh" in Guangzhou, China. As it happens I have a friend with those same initials, and as it happens he is a photographer who went off several years ago to work in Asia. The message read simply: "Mr. beardsley How are you." That "Mr. beardsley" was particularly puzzling because it occurred to me that my old friend would never have been so formal, not even long ago when he was my student.     Soon enough, however, it was clear that my old student remains lost in Asia and that I have a new friend in the person of Mr. B.H. Jiang (or, as it is written in Chinese, Jiang Bao Heng -- jbh -- with the last name coming first). Mr. Jiang, it turns out, is a man in his thirties who supports himself and his photography by working as a computer salesman in Guangzhou. Guangzhou is a city of over six million people, one of those burgeoning new industrial giants that dot the Pearl River Delta in southeastern China.   It is the capital of Guangdong Province that takes in the cities of Hong Kong (since July 1, 1997), Huizhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Foshan, Jiangmen, Zhongshan, and Zuhai. The "registered" population of the delta is said to be about 25 million persons. The "unregistered" population, which includes migrant laborers who come from the interior of China hoping to share in the growing prosperity of these new "special economic zones".                         May account for at least another five million persons; some put the number much higher. Mr. Jiang, like so many others looking to improve their lives, came to Guangzhou from Yangzun City, which is further north in Anhwei Province.   I might not have paid much attention to Mr. Jiang had it not been for the photographs he had attached to the first message. I have this past year heard from a number of photographers in Asia, most of them living outside mainland China. All are very competent, even sophisticated, but many also seem too much influenced by some of the worst models in western culture; for the viewer there is little chance of engagement, and in consequence their work is wont to remain, as historian Edgar Wind would say, a passing parade.   Mr. Jiang's photographs, however, are of a different order.They are almost innocent. Most are straightforward black and white photographs of children or scenes of people, many of them plainly living on the edge of modern Chinese society.Most of the children are obviously in poor circumstances, some clearly belonging to minority groups. But the most interesting characteristic of this body of work, its strength, is in the approach to the subjects.   Mr. Jiang is respectful, even loving, in a way that seems trustworthy. Moreover, it is one of the few instances where I feel I have encountered a wholly Chinese sensibility at work. In short, I came away with the feeling that for a moment my own eyes were permitted to be Chinese, and that my understanding of what it is to be a human being in these particulars had suddenly increased.         I now have digital representatives of more than a hundred photographs made by Mr. Jiang over several years, including photographs of many more children and adults, a record of a harvest festival for Tibetan (made on one of his excursions outside Guangdong Province to Szechwan Provice in Central China), and a very interesting group of color photographs of "boat people" and "peasants" made in Yangchun on the Muyang river.             Newspaper and magazine reports tell me that the rivers yield few fish nowadays because most are polluted owing to over-population and rapid industrial development. How these people might make a life, then, becomes a puzzle. Most of the children photographed live in a remote village called Pingshi,which is about 150 miles west of Guangzhou, and part of a district called "Yubei" -- described by Mr. Jiang as a region stretching from Lianan (near Qingyuan in the east) to Pingshi (near Shaoguan in the west). The people of this area do in fact belong to minority groups, he told me later. The government refers to them simply as either the "Red Group" or the "White Group."           For the presentation on these pages I have selected photographs made in Pingshi, Lianan, Yangchun, and in the vicinity of Guangzhou. There are no titles for the photographs, only file numbers with initials indicating where they were made -- LN refers to Lianan, YC to Yangchun, JZ is Szechwan Province, but J and CLN remain something of a mystery until either Mr. Jiang or our translator can provide better information. It may help to refer to the map I have provided based on information given to me by Mr. Jiang.             I have included below portions of messages sent to me by Mr. Jiang. They offer a very interesting picture of life in this "new China," and they give us a glimpse inside the life and struggle of one of its photographers. We learn from Mr. Jiang, for example, that in China today public interest in "serious" photography is practically nil.                 Millions of people own cameras and make photographs, but for most it is a kind of sport (though, in fact, I just received from another friend a copy of a 1965 Hong Kong Camera Club publication that offers proof that photography is by no means a new sport in China). But for all the popularity of photography in China today, it remains an "activity," and not yet a practice. Sadly, there are no commercial galleries, museums, or other institutions that might support and encourage photography.As Mr. Jiang tells us in one note, "[photographs] were sold just like trash. But let him tell you the story.             His words have the same economy of means and plain grace of his photographs," and what he has to say about his photographs, about the lives of hissubjects, and about the conditions in China today for photography and photographers is worth our attention. English remains a struggle for Mr. Jiang, so most of the messages were composed in Chinese.               I'm confident that the translations we obtained have captured both the spirit and meaning of his words. Mr. Jiang (writing in English) concerning himself and his work: I am a guy who forever is taking photos, and I always went outside to shoot some photos about people and view. These photos were taken in a poor village far from Guangzhou, and the people live a poor life, but the people out there were honest and hard working. So I have taken many photos in the village. I hope the people in the world can take care of these poor children through the pictures. The pictures which I sent to you were a part of me.   More about himself and the photographs of the children, this time writing in Chinese (and, in fact, from here on he writes most of his messages in Chinese): My job is related to selling computers... but because of certain limitations, I can only take pictures during my spare time. These photos were taken in November of last year [1996]. They were taken in the "Yuebei" area of Guangdong Province. The Yuebei area is a poor part of Guangdong Province. People are dependent on agriculture for living. Since it's far from a city and transportation is inconvenient, the educational opportunities are limited, and their thinking is still very innocent and pure.     They haven't been influenced by modern society. They are living life freely and without worry. The children of this place study in low quality schools. A lot of the children have to walk at least ten miles on hilly roads to go to school.These reasons stimulated my desire and creativity to use cameras to record their daily activities. The children are poor and still so innocent. This kind of thing is not possible to capture in the cities. Also, the reason we want to capture the pictures is for people in the cities to know that there are a lot of other poor people in our society and to let them know the reality.                     Concerning his camera and darkroom: My camera quality is not very good, so the contrast might not be that good... The photos I'm sending you here I directly made them from negatives, so they were not processed. I'm using a limited-range lens, so the contrast is not precise. I read some books about Ansel Adams, and I also know something about his "zone system" of photography. But my darkroom is rather rudimentary, so I am having some production difficulty.   About Hong Kong and also the idea of exhibiting on the Internet: How are you. First, thank you for your concern over Hong Kong's matter. This thing makes every Chinese very happy.It washed off 150 years of humiliation. We will stand up in the world again. I learned that you are going to display my photographs on the Internet.     I will make more pictures using my eyes to discover more things to display the great Chinese people to the world. Let the world understand and care for the Chinese people. Let them know in the Old East there is a group of never-yielding people who are stubbornly laboring for humankind. Our lifestyle and thinking are different from westerners... but we all of the humankind.   Recent note concerning black and white vs. color photographs: I like to take black and white pictures, because color will make people see less. Black and white makes it more interesting.   Concerning the plight of photography in China: Some time ago, there was news in the papers about a flea market in Peking, of photographs selling for [Chinese amount of $2 to $3]. If you buy more, they sell to you in terms of weight. So there was a famous photographer, who as a result bought several kilograms of photographs. This photographer was very saddened. He said in our country we really don't value photography. These photos, some of them, have won national or international awards. In each photo there is a lot of time and money. However, they were sold just like trash.   And this is truly the biggest sadness of Chinese photographers. Their art is worthless. Therefore, if you want to live as a photographer, it's impossible. Over here, the most you can get is [he gives a vague amount: over $10, and under $100]. This amount is not even enough for buying the film. Chinese photographers live in hardship.     Clarifying the location of villages and the identity of the people: Yubei is in Guangdong [Canton] Province. It refers to the area made up of Shaoguan and Qingyuan. Therefore, you will not find it on the map. The photos I took were at Pingshi in Shaoguan, and at Lianan in Qingyuan. Yaozu is a minority group. There are two different sub-groups. One is the White Group, the other is the Red Group. All live in poor, far-away little towns. The White Group usually wear clothes with black and white colors. Their standard of living is very low.   Their yearly income is about 500 Chinese dollars [about US $66]. My monthly income is 2,500 [about US $332]. I am showing you these pictures I took ... in Yangchun City... This place is about 300 miles from Guangzhou. This is a poor place... we took a lot of pictures to reflect the life there. I am hoping to get some sympathetic response... This is an agricultural town, and I'm sending these pictures which reflect the boat people. Their ancestors lived on the boat. Boats are their homes. These boats are not for fishing anymore, this is where they live.   Weather extremes: June: That day the weather was very hot, over 35 degrees Celsius. That day all of us got sunburn. Even though taking pictures is hard work, I feel it's very meaningful. July-August: Recently I haven't written you much. Last Sunday I was going to Lianan, to take pictures. However, recently the weather is not very good. It rains every day. As a result, the road to Lianan was being flooded, and there were some mud slides, so the traffic is being blocked. As a result, I was not able to go. If the weather gets better, I plan to go on Friday.     On "modern" Chinese life and his own feelings: Right now in China, a lot of young people are very empty... They feel life is not interesting. When they work, they don't shoot for perfection. Every day they are just wasting their time. They don't have any ideals. In the modern society, if you cannot make your dream come true, it's very sad. This also includes me, because the pressure from life is great. Every day I feel very nervous. I feel there is no future... Every day I have to do a lot of so many other things, so sometimes I feel down. Some time ago, I planned to go to Lianan to take pictures. However, because I had a serious stomach problem, I didn't go. However, now I plan to go to a small fishing village to take some pictures...   Mr. Jiang's most recent communications indicate that he is intent on establishing a website to promote the work of mainland Chinese photographers as well as to provide a place where they can exchange information about photography and other issues. It is my hope to see more photographers like Mr. Jiang come forward. Perhaps then we will begin to see more of the Chinese sensibility that has been struggling to emerge and take hold on a broad scale. When it does, we will all be the richer for it.   E. R. Beardsley September 1997                   ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Special thanks to Marina Tackett, for her generous help in translating communications between China and the U.S. A native of Taiwan, Ms. Tackett is working toward her Ph.D. in cultural anthropology at the University of Oregon. She plans to return to Taiwan in 1998, where she will work with children of the Bunan tribe, the fourth-largest indigenous group in Taiwan." She also loves photography.   Thanks also go to Ms. Zou Huan, a student from China who is currently studying at the University of Oregon. Ms. Zou was most helpful in the early stages of communications between China and the U.S.   Thanks must certainly go to Mr. Steve McQuiddy and Ms. Debby Coulthard of Eugene, Oregon, for numerous and varied contributions that have saved me much anguish and hard work, particularly in the matter of finding willing Chinese translators at a time when most people are away from campus on vacation.   My gratitude also goes to Mr. Pedro Meyer for the invitation to present Mr. Jiang's work at ZoneZero , to Mr. Mike Lee for his willingness to place a version of this exhibit on the Intangible web site, and to Mr. Ted Fisher, Media Projects Coordinator, UCR's California Museum of Photography for his invitation to place a version of the exhibit on the museum's web site.         http://zonezero.com/magazine/articles/jiang/p1.html    

Monday, 03 May 1999

867. The Monica Lesson

    I was asked on the National Press Photographers’ list, what it was like to discover a picture from two years ago that turned out to be the "picture of the week".   There have been lots of rumors running through the photo journalistic community about the picture that was the cover of TIME magazine, showing Monica Lewinsky, her red lips glowing, her eyes closed in anticipation, being embraced by President Clinton at a fund raising event in October of 1996. Here, from the photographer’s finger-tips, is exactly what happened.   I have a theory that every time the shutter captures a frame, that image is recorded, at a very low threshold in the brain of the photographer. I have heard this over and over from photographers around the world. It doesn’t matter if the photographer saw the processed image or not. These split seconds, as the mirror returns, are recorded as "photographic lint" on the mind of the photographer.   When the photographs of Monica Lewinsky, in her beret, on the lawn of the White House, emerged in February of this year, I KNEW I had seen that face with the President. I had no idea when, or where. When I take photographs on assignment for TIME covering the White House, which I do every third month (nobody could do it more), the pictures first go to the magazine. They have first-time rights on the photos. Once they have gone through the take, and pulled a few selects for the TIME-LIFE picture collection, the take goes to my agent, GAMMA-LIAISON. They then comb the take a second time, and pull their selects. Eventually, the take comes back to me, and resides in my light-room until I sort through it again, then send everything to the University of Texas, which is where my archives reside. Because I am busy, I only get around to sending the pictures to Texas about every 18 months.   When the Lewinsky story broke, all these organizations started to go through their files, and found nothing. I hired a researcher, and she started to go through the piles of slides in the light room. After four days, and more than 5,000 slides, she found ONE image, from a fund-raising event in 1996. By that time, the original "news break" was over. I told TIME we had found an image, and sent it to New York. We all agreed that this was an important image, but the story had moved away from us. So, we all sat on the picture for six months. When you think about it, that is incredible. Not only TIME, but also Gamma-Liaison kept a secret for six months.   When Monica went to the prosecutors, and offered her testimony, the story went back to page one. At this point, TIME and the agency went into action. The photo was run as a cover on TIME, and is now in magazines and newspapers around the world. So, what is the lesson from this episode? I wrote several months ago about David Rubinger talking about how important our archives are. I would rest the case on this example.   One of the things that become clear is that first, the wires, could not find this photo, even after it was released in their files. That may be due to several problems. First, they have cut back on their support staff - who is going to go through their photos ? The reality is that after several months, out takes go into ware houses. If the photographers to the left and right of me on that stage, that night, were shooting digital, they probably erased the files ( Monica, who ?) The networks, once TIME released the photo, were able to go back into pool footage and find the picture . However, we have not seen anything from the other photographers who were there, other than an amateur photographer who was in the crowd, and whose photo was the cover of NEWSWEEK.   I will make some money from this picture (not nearly as much as most people think), but if I did not own my photographs, if I did not go through them, the picture would never had emerged. That is why ownership of your photographs is SO important. The simple fact is that no organization has the "memory of the image" that the photographer who took it has. The people who want "work for hire" from photographers, also disassociate their greatest asset from the thing that they have to sell. A last note...I am not talking about Monica versus the President...who is lying and who is not...I am talking about the photographers who record history, and have an obligation to make those photographs available to future generations.   Please go to the excellent web page on photojournalism that is run by Dirk Halstead: http://digitaljournalist.org         http://www.zonezero.com/magazine/articles/halstead/monica.html    

Sunday, 02 May 1999

869. Light and darkness, song and scream, the photographic work of Luis Gonzáles Palma

    Luis González Palma's work was first shown in Houston in 1992 as part of the Latin American exhibits of FotoFest. If one were to ask retrospectively what exactly it was that was so impressive about his work, an important answer would be: his portraits of indigenous peoples of Guatemala like "La rosa" (1989) and "La esperanza" (1990). I reluctantly call them "portraits" because they are not intended as depictions of the individuals they denote; but rather, as impersonations of archetypical characters of myth, popular culture and/or the poetic imagination of the artist. 1 González Palma has continued, mutatis mutandis , producing these portraits throughout the nineties: "El soldado" (1993), "El casco" (1994); and more recently, "80 mm, 5.6" (1998), "La mirada crítica"(1998), and "Trama y urdidumbre" (1998).   Other portraits of Guatemalan Native-Americans had been featured at FotoFest '90 in the work of Hans Namuth Los Todos Santeros. 2 But Namuth's work, although impressive in its own right, is fairly straightforward whereas González Palma's work (not plain Palma, as some would have it) follows different paths —zigzaging along, crisscrossing others' paths, and branching off into untrodden territories. In order to understand a little better González Palma's work, I will attempt to walk along those paths.   The obvious and most conspicuous place to start is tone. González Palma's prints are generally glazed with a dark sepia medium that tones all but selected portions of his prints. Various interpretations have been given for this prominent feature of his work. Some have found in this earthy monochromaticism a connection with Goya's dark paintings. Others have connected it with the way paintings and frescoes in churches look after hundreds of years of exposure to the smoke of candles, incense, and the exhalations of devotees. Others have underscored the resemblance that his toned prints have with the bark on which ancient Mayans alledgedly wrote. 3 This last suggestion is particularly germane because, according to the Popol Vuh , the first act of creation is dawn; and bringing the world out of darkness is part of González Palma's poetics. These interpretations are not mutually exclusive; more than likely, González Palma is plugging into all these outlets simultaneously —thus exemplifying a culturally diverse tradition of image-making and exposing his own aesthetic eclecticism.   In many of González Palma's portraits only the eyes of the subjects are spared the sepia tone so as to imbue their gaze with an engaging, confrontational, and almost hypnotic quality. Take the case of "America" (1990), a portrait of a young woman whose name happens to be 'America' —the title is both exact and metonymic. The white of the eyes irradiates a light that subliminally leads the viewer into St. Augustine's intuition that its source is the luminosity of the spirit. Through toning González Palma establishes a metaphor central to much of his work; namely, that the life of many indigenous Guatemalans transpires in darkness (the sepia tone) although their spirit (the glistening eyes) prevails and endures. It is clear that González Palma endorses their cause and makes the brunt of his oeuvre bear a political message for their liberation. Many would argue that the political impact of art beyond the narrow boundaries of the artworld is more often the unwitting design of censors. 4 But González Palma belongs to that breed of artists who believe that art itself has a spiritual luminosity and power whose social effects should not be underestimated.   The depiction of González Palma's indigenous subjects is a way of changing the historical perceptions about them for themselves and for others. Pedagogically, it is a forced act of self-knowledge whose main lesson is: "You are the protagonists of your own history." Unfortunately, what is scream for some is heard as song by others who see only the exoticism of the imagery. This kind of ambivalency is characteristic of great ideological paradigms like beauty or freedom.On one interpretation, for example, the luminous gazes are the light of reason: human rights, republicanism, and rationality (ideals of the Enlightenment). Therein lies a connection with Goya's Capricho "El sueño de la razón produce monstruos" which has an ambiguity that reveals the bright and dark sides of reason. 5 From the Native-American perspective, "Enlightened" rationality has been a double-edged sword insofar as it has been the conceptual tool for liberation as well as for exploitation. González Palma has explicitly pointed to that ambivalency in one of his most conceptual and avant garde installations: "Historias Paralelas" (1995).The installation consists of a series of transparencies of white shirts ridden with bullet holes. González Palma identifies the shirts of "Parallel Histories" as those of Maximilian, Archduke of Austria who, in 1864, was imposed on Mexico as emperor by Napoleon III and Mexican conservatives. 6 In an epoch when for the very first time a Zapotec Native-American, Benito Juárez, was elected president of México (a process for which Enlightenment ideals are partially responsible), a European monarch was forced militarily on a sovereign American republic. Ironically, Maximilian turned out to be more liberal (read, "Enlightened") than the Mexican reactionaries would have wished; Juárez shared more reformist views with him than with some of his own allies. Nevertheless, Juárez ordered his execution not only because Maximilian himself had ordered the execution of republican guerrilleros but also because he was the incarnation of imperialism. Thus, "Historias Paralelas" is also a reflection on the impersonality of violence; i.e., it was not Maximilian's person that was important in deciding his execution but his investiture symbolized by his shirt.   An equally important feature of González Palma's work is the way he consistently endows the image of Native-Americans with an almost irresistible beauty. 7 To do so, González Palma slides the canons of European beauty along indigenous traits —a concept spelled out in "Reflejo" (1998). The trinity —beauty, truth and goodness— is a Platonic amalgam whose persuasive power has not dwindled since antiquity, but whose currency was challenged —among others— by the art of the historical European avant-garde. German artists of the socalled New Objectivity movement, like Max Beckmann and Otto Dix, brutally, even grotesquely, depicted the bourgeois society of their time. For these artists beauty was clearly a distraction and contrary to their aims of critical objectivity. Beauty, however, is a value with which the Latin American avant-gardes have found it harder to dispense. In González Palma's work beauty conspires to ennoble his indigenous subjects.Through the rhetorical power of beauty the viewer is rendered more susceptible to fully accept their humanity just as 500 years ago Bartolomé de las Casas gained over a handfull of Spaniards by arguing that the physical slightness of Native-Americans was a sign of nobility. 8   More recently, González Palma has introduced contemporary genetic theory in the work "The image of the world" (1998). For González Palma, the move to dignify and beautify the Native-American subjects of his portraits has the effect of persuading the viewer to move from the factitiousness of their staged personas to the documents that attest to their existence and exploitation. Works such as "Los Recuerdos Intimos" (1991) and more recently, "Letanías con ángel" (1995), depart from an aesthetic heavily dependent on beauty and enter a more current one based on text and evidence. With these latter images Gonzáles Palma pays homage to Christian Boltanski, whose work has had a tremendous impact on his own. 9 In fact, in "Letanías" (1993) as well as in "Letanías con ángel" many id-photos (as in many of Boltanski's works) become blurred to the point of becoming useless as tools of identification. One reading of this feature comes from the tragic futility of looking for "disappeared" ones with id-photos not only in Guatemala but throughout the continent —in a sense, a debunking of the idea that photography's main function is to document and/or identify. Indeed, something as unmimetic and unsensorial as DNA is a better tool for identifying the dead as well as clarifying the kinship of all humans.   That González Palma has not always relied exclusively on an aesthetic of beauty is clearer in his early work where there is even a hint of the grotesque. In "Imágenes de Parto y Dolor" [Images of Child-Bearing and Pain] (1989), or "La Muerte Reyna" [Death Rules] (1989), González Palma exposes his connection Joel-Peter Witkin's work. If only a few of González Palma's images can be regarded as grotesque it is perhaps because since then the rhetoric of beauty was so steadfastly established throughout his opus that it entices the viewer to regard works like "Deer"(1991) and "The Moon"(1989) as something more akin to the sublime than to the grotesque. Beauty, therefore, is also a strategy for persuading the viewer into accepting different paradigms, if not of beauty (whose parameters are historically and ideologically fairly well-defined in spite of the enthusiasm of many who relativize it), then, of artistic representation. González Palma recycles a whole gamut of religious, popular, ancient, mythical, and media icons. In "Loteria I" and "Lotería II," for example, he alludes to the game of lottery whose images —according to María Cristina Orive (one of his first commentators) were used to convert Native-Americans to Catholicism. In order to address issues like emigration, more recent works like "Tensiones herméticas" (1997), leave behind not only beauty but also the representation of Native-Americans as a potentially exotic specimens.   In a way, Gonzáles Palma's eclectic work allows us to discern two epicenters in his artistic persona. One, spelled out by the rhetoric of the titles of his books, exhibits and some of his works (i.e., Poems of Sorrow, Wedding of Solitude, etc.): a modernista à la Rubén Darío 10, with a clear penchant for beauty; and a second one, an avant-garde installation artist à la Boltanski. It is this second aspect of his work that most impressed me about his work in 1992. González Palma irreverently tears photographic prints, nails them to rough supports, collages legal documents and pins ribbons to the prints, invents rituals, uses popular culture, etc. A horde of issues of authenticity, veracity, even morality which photography in the documentary mode had defined within its own paradigm, were thereby forced into revision. González Palma —like Gerardo Suter or Mario Cravo Neto— makes no effort to hide his staging and his choreography and it remains unclear what degree of complicity he has with his subjects who usually include his wife, friends, workers, etc. In a sense, González Palma preempted issues of validation and authenticity. His work in 1992 was in the avante-garde of Latin American photography; and the notion of the avant-garde —is worth remembering— is always contextual. Fernando Castro R. Houston, Texas You may contact Fernando Castro R. at: eusebio9@earthlink.net   1.- The case of "America" (1990) is interesting insofar as the name of the model, who happens to be Gonzealez Palma's godchild, is really "America." Nevertheless, the intention seems to be to depict this girl as a substitute for the 1875 Bartholdi's statue "Liberty" (as-in-the-Statue-of-Liberty) -a mestizo female who is mom representative of the American continent; i.e., one, with Native-American features. A later work, titled "America II" (1998) has a more ironic vein insofar as "America" is inscribed on a heart pin bearing the U.S. flag and adhered to the forehand of a young mestizo. (back)   2.- Hans Namuth. Los Todos Santeros. (Berlin: Verlag Dirk Nishen, 1989). (back)   3. Maria Cristina Orive, essay "Luis Gonzáles Palma" in book Luis Gonziáles Palma (Buenos Aires: La Azotea, 1993), p. 5. (back)   4.- That the most wunterproductiv~ course of action a regime may take against dis,sident an or artists is to repress it is a lesson well-learned by those countries in Latin America that best handle their cultural programs; namely, Cuba and Mexico. In most other countries cultural programs are generally handled by the "unintelligentsia." It is not clear to me whether or not GonzAez Palma's works am considered subversive by the Guatemalan government or power cliques. (back)   5.- The ambiguous meaning of Goyas famous Capricho "El sueno de la razóm produce monstruos" (The dream [slumber] of reason produces monsters) oscillates between two interpretations. The ambiguity arises from the fact that "sueno" means "sleep" as well as "dream." So on the kinder view of reason, if reason sleeps (is not vigilant), monsters arise. On the negative view of reason, its dreams result in terrible excesses -take the cases of the excesses of Robespierre, of Marxist totalitarianism or of free-market predation. (back)   6.- The story of Maximiliano, is one of the strangest in the history of the continent. The idea of Napoleon III was to create an empire made up of European and American countries of Latin culture. It is from this notion that the enigmatic term "Latin America" arose. (back)   7.- "Equally radical is González Palma's approach to beauty. His work is unashamemedly beautiful." See JohnWood' essay "The death of romanticism and the birth of New Science, and the poet of sorrows" in Luis Gonzáles Palma's book Poems of Sorrow (Santa Fe: Arena Editions: 1999), p. 18. (back)   8.- It is also a move not unlike that of the Mexican and Peruvian indigenista avant gardes of the 1920's. The Mexican muralistas aimed to create a public art for and about the oppressed masses, including the indigenous populations. In their works beauty joined forces with epic heroism. Perhaps more akin to González Palma's work is that of Martin Chambi, whose probing work dissected the structure of the 1920's landowning Peruvian society which marginalized Native-Americans -a system of exploitation not very different from present day Guatemala. (back)   9.- Boltanski's installation "Leçons de Tenèbres" [Lessons of darkness] (1986) presented in the cloister space of the Chapelle de l'Hôpital de la Saltpótriere in Paris an array of identification portraits amidst religious statuary and other ecclesiastical paraphernalia. In fact, See, Lynn Gumpert's book Christian Boltanski (Paris: Flammayion: 1994). (back)   10.- Take the following verse of Rubén Dark, with clear resonances in Gozález Palma choice of titles: "voy, ciego y loco, por este mundo arnargo" (I wander, crazy and blind, across the bitter world).(back)         http://www.zonezero.com/magazine/articles/castro/gonzen.html      

Saturday, 01 May 1999

871. María Fernanda Gutiérrez

  Date: Thu, Apr 29, 1999, 4:10 PM   Mi nombre es Fernanda Gutierrez, soy de Guadalajara, Mexico y ahora estoy estudiando en la Universidad de Concordia en Montreal un diplomado en fotografia. Estoy haciendo esto como un hobby pero ahora que lo hago cada vez mas me interesa mejorar cada dia y aprender de todo y de todos. Creo que me motiva el que existan paginas como esta en donde haya trabajos de calidad que me permitan aprender de ellos. Me gustaria saber como estan hechos muchos de ellos pero tal vez ustedes mismos me puedan dar informacion de como encontrar la forma para hacer lo que tengo en la mente.   Gracias.  

Thursday, 29 April 1999

873. Gabino Alvarado Soto | Presentación

  Date: Wed, Apr 28, 1999, 1:10 PM   Hola me llamo Gabino Alvarado Soto Terminé hace dos semanas la carrera de Comunicación Social En la UAM Xochimilco. Espero poder mantener mantener correo con su persona y dragar lo que más pueda de sus conocimientos; espero no ser muy áspero en mis pretensiones.   De la misma forma quedo a sus ordenes para poder recibir cualquier buena noticia o decepción.  

Wednesday, 28 April 1999

875. Jenett | Congrats

  Date: Sun, Apr 25, 1999, 8:50 PM   I am pleased to let you know that your site, ZoneZero, was chosen to receive the CoolSTOP Best of the Cool Award for 4/26/99. Your pages stand out because of great graphic design, creativity, easy navigation and original, interesting content. You are listed at http://www.coolstop.com/bestof I am still pleased to list your site as one of the Best of the Cool.   Thanks for putting your site out there - It's Great!  

Sunday, 25 April 1999