Julio Rivera

Versión en español

Julio Rivera | Ciudad de México

Result of the workshop "Cuerpo y fotografía" given by Luana Navarro of the Fundación Pedro Meyer November 2012

Julio Rivera (June 1986) graduated as a graphic communication designer from the Autonomous Metropolitan University, and has since completed this training, his first approach to photography, with several workshops.

Despite his short career as a photographer, he has participated in several group exhibitions and his work has been published in a variety of media..

He is currently working as an independent photographer, devoting most of his time to personal projects.

INTERVIEW

ZZ. Is there one photograph that has changed the way you perceive images? Which photograph is this, and why?

J.R. Tomoko in the bath by Eugene Smith is both a heartbreaking and sumptuously beautiful image. When I first saw it I discovered photography’s tremendous ability to speak of life, man and everything that we are capable of doing, from the most despicable acts, reflected in Tomoko’s body, to the most sublime, such as the deep love in his mother’s expression.

ZZ. Do you think the fiction produced in the virtual environment we inhabit can be used in your work?

J.R. Of course it can, though I have not used it very much. I have always believed that fiction can be used to speak of the "truth", to criticize and question it. A clear example of this is the Deconstructing Osama de Fontcuberta project.

ZZ. What do you aim to achieve when you depict the body in your photographic work?

J.R. This has been my most personal project so far. Witnessing the death of two relatives was an extremely powerful experience. In both cases the journey towards death was slow and painful, and seeing these events made me profoundly afraid, not of death itself but rather that what precedes it, the inevitable decline of the body. Since I usually resort to denial, Memento is a means of facing up to this fear, exposing my body (albeit in a fictional way) to its own process of decay to capture the unavoidable and increase my awareness of it. It is a kind of catharsis through which I try to accept a natural process even if I don’t really like it, a natural process, to somehow achieve a sense of peace.

ZZ. Do you think that photographic expression relating to the body crosses the line between the public and the private?

J.R. I perceive the public and private as subjective aspects. Today, the vast production of images has made the body an entirely public subject. I think that now, privacy is what we feel or think; we all have bodies but we do not all think alike. I believe that if it is necessary to photograph a naked body to reveal something truly private, then it is worth crossing that line.

ZZ. Are you currently working on a particular project? Please tell us about it.

J.R. It is difficult to define when a project is finished. As time goes by my perception of the word changes, as does my interpretation of my own images. In this respect some of my projects are in a constant process of re-signification, and at the moment I am considering taking up an earlier project. For Rooms (http://proyectohabitaciones.tumblr.com) the original subject was how impersonal relationships can become when the virtual becomes excessive, but now I think I can offer a more profound interpretation that enhances the project and allows it to grow.