Pedro Góngora

Versión en español

Pedro Góngora | Ciudad de México

Result of the workshop "Portafolios: Edición y producción fotográfica" given by Adriana Raggi and Bruno Bresani of the Fundación Pedro Meyer Febrero 2013

Pedro A. Góngora (Mexico City, 1978) graduated as an engineer in 2002.

He has since worked in numerous locations, including as a university professor, and considers himself an eternal student. He is currently extremely busy with his personal photography projects, his doctoral thesis at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and his main job as a programmer.

INTERVIEW

ZZ. Where did your interest for photography come from?

P.G. To be honest, it began very casually. I had been taking countless courses and workshops, in art history, music and literature. After a while I wanted to begin a project of my own, but was not sure what to do. Almost by chance, I enrolled in a cyanotype workshop with Nirvana Paz, and became hooked on photography. I began to take photographs with my cell phone and ordinary cameras, then gradually discovered that it was the medium that gave me the most freedom to express myself. I looked for more courses, and learnt about the Visual Log Book at the Pedro Meyer Foundation. I then took the Portfolios course and now have a couple of projects underway.

ZZ. As a person devoted to the sciences, your vision of photography is different to that of a person involved in the arts or humanities. How would you define this difference?

P.G. I believe that as a spectator, anyone can appreciate a photographic work. The differences in the way a work moves you may be cultural and depend on the degree of contact you have with certain topics. However, as a creator I believe there are broader differences. In science, the decisions you take in a project have a very functional direction, based on measurable, arguably objective parameters. Whereas in the case of an artistic project, decisions tend to be guided by subjective criteria, which requires a personal sensitivity beyond the more tangible or visible result. However, of course, I can only speak from my own experience.

ZZ. Where did the idea for this project come from?

P.G. The idea emerged around that very issue - the confrontation of two manners of creating and relating to art. Moreover, photography also involves a historical and cultural opposition between the objective and subjective, which is perhaps why I feel so close to the medium.

ZZ. What future projects and plans will you continue to develop in the visual arts?

P.G. In addition to finishing my current projects, I want to continue learning and producing. I believe that, in the long term, what I would most like would be to link these two parts of my life.