Photo © Mara Sánchez-Renero
Talent of the Year 2020 - NOMINEE: Mara Sánchez-Renero
Iluikak
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In the wayward Mexico of today, where sociopolitical instability has prompted society to lose contact with its roots, heritage, and territory, Veracruz is one of many places where Mexican citizens face injustice on a daily basis. In hopes of bringing viewers’ eyes and attention to its reality. I have chosen to situate myself and my project in this part of Mexico.
To open a mountain implies entering its multiple dimensions: the mountain as a way of life, as a secret, as a fantasy, as a history, as a nature, as time. La sierra de Zongolica in the state of Veracruz, is tracked by the slow construction of these photographs, shaped by high, mid and low lands as a constant transition of heights and humidity. Its original inhabitants, the Nahuas peoples since ancient times are country workers and more and more they become migrant communities due to the precarious socio-economic conditions and violence in the region, being Veracruz one of the most violent states in the country.
Iluikak, which in Nahuatl means "close to the sky" is a project that assumes fully the tight relationship between what a photographic image creates and the real it comes from. It leads through the furrow between documentary and fiction. In the images, which are tied in their temporalities from the idea of act, a space is managed not only for the visions and symbols of the mountain to emerge, but to create an imaginary at the same time abstract and concrete from the pendular relationship between the visible and the invisible.
About author:
Mara Sánchez Renero (Mexico) studied photography in Barcelona, Spain, where she lived for 10 years. She was part of the collective boom of 2008, in Spain, where she was co-founder of the collective Malocchio and PHACTO. Since 2012 she has focused mainly on issues of identity within the Mexican territory where she currently lives.
She received the 1st place of the POY Latam 2015 on the prize “Nuestra Mirada de memoria e identidad” and the SAIF 2015 photographer revelation award, at the Voies Off festival in Arles, France. Currently, she has received the grant from Sistema Nacional de Creadores de México (FONCA 2018-2020).
Her work has been rewarded and exhibited in several parts of the world, among them: France, Switzerland, India, Spain, Cuba, Haiti, Belice, Panama and Mexico. Her last solo exhibition were in 2018, she presented “iluikak” her latest work in a solo exhibition at Almanaque Gallery (Mexico City) and, in the same year, she was part of the exhibition "Áfricamericanos", at Centro de la Imagen (Mexico City), curated by Claudí Carrera.
In February of 2019 she was invited to be a resident at Casa Wabi foundation and in May she was selected to be a tutor in 20 Fotógrafos Atitlán, in november 2019.
She has participated in different fairs, among which Basel Photo (2017), Zona Maco Foto (2016, 2017, 2018) Material Fair (2017,2019) and San Francisco Photo (2018), Arteba (2019), Photo London (2019) stand out.
In 2011, The Private Space published the book Handbook, a project in collaboration with the artist Nico Baixas. In 2017, MugaPoject included The Cimarron and the fandango as part of one of their fanzines of the project "Pewen Cuadernos de Fotografía”, being the publication of February. And her work has been published in blogs and magazines such as: CNN Photoblog, Lens of the New York Times, OAI, Zoom Magazine, Exit, Photography is art, and Vision.
Currently she is working on the edition of two photobooks.
In her work, Mara Sánchez-Renero is interested in finding places where she can create a scenario to explore the instability of the human condition. In her images we can witness the dissolution of constructed identity, in isolating men and women from their everyday contexts and instead portraying them within the space of their imaginary fabrication, the space of their mythical existence and thus confront what’s uncertain about human nature.
To open a mountain implies entering its multiple dimensions: the mountain as a way of life, as a secret, as a fantasy, as a history, as a nature, as time. La sierra de Zongolica in the state of Veracruz, is tracked by the slow construction of these photographs, shaped by high, mid and low lands as a constant transition of heights and humidity. Its original inhabitants, the Nahuas peoples since ancient times are country workers and more and more they become migrant communities due to the precarious socio-economic conditions and violence in the region, being Veracruz one of the most violent states in the country.
Iluikak, which in Nahuatl means "close to the sky" is a project that assumes fully the tight relationship between what a photographic image creates and the real it comes from. It leads through the furrow between documentary and fiction. In the images, which are tied in their temporalities from the idea of act, a space is managed not only for the visions and symbols of the mountain to emerge, but to create an imaginary at the same time abstract and concrete from the pendular relationship between the visible and the invisible.
About author:
Mara Sánchez Renero (Mexico) studied photography in Barcelona, Spain, where she lived for 10 years. She was part of the collective boom of 2008, in Spain, where she was co-founder of the collective Malocchio and PHACTO. Since 2012 she has focused mainly on issues of identity within the Mexican territory where she currently lives.
She received the 1st place of the POY Latam 2015 on the prize “Nuestra Mirada de memoria e identidad” and the SAIF 2015 photographer revelation award, at the Voies Off festival in Arles, France. Currently, she has received the grant from Sistema Nacional de Creadores de México (FONCA 2018-2020).
Her work has been rewarded and exhibited in several parts of the world, among them: France, Switzerland, India, Spain, Cuba, Haiti, Belice, Panama and Mexico. Her last solo exhibition were in 2018, she presented “iluikak” her latest work in a solo exhibition at Almanaque Gallery (Mexico City) and, in the same year, she was part of the exhibition "Áfricamericanos", at Centro de la Imagen (Mexico City), curated by Claudí Carrera.
In February of 2019 she was invited to be a resident at Casa Wabi foundation and in May she was selected to be a tutor in 20 Fotógrafos Atitlán, in november 2019.
She has participated in different fairs, among which Basel Photo (2017), Zona Maco Foto (2016, 2017, 2018) Material Fair (2017,2019) and San Francisco Photo (2018), Arteba (2019), Photo London (2019) stand out.
In 2011, The Private Space published the book Handbook, a project in collaboration with the artist Nico Baixas. In 2017, MugaPoject included The Cimarron and the fandango as part of one of their fanzines of the project "Pewen Cuadernos de Fotografía”, being the publication of February. And her work has been published in blogs and magazines such as: CNN Photoblog, Lens of the New York Times, OAI, Zoom Magazine, Exit, Photography is art, and Vision.
Currently she is working on the edition of two photobooks.
In her work, Mara Sánchez-Renero is interested in finding places where she can create a scenario to explore the instability of the human condition. In her images we can witness the dissolution of constructed identity, in isolating men and women from their everyday contexts and instead portraying them within the space of their imaginary fabrication, the space of their mythical existence and thus confront what’s uncertain about human nature.