Andrés Figueroa
Andrés Figueroa was born in Santiago 1974, graduated from the Escuela de Foto Arte de Chile in Santiago 1996. He is especially interested in people and their relation with cultural heritage, social justice, and community organization, being the Portrait, his genre of preference, developing his projects as a series of documentary research.
In this interview he told us about the beginning of his career, the collective “La nave”, the concept of “documentary research” he uses to develop his series and the theme of Goa Photo 2015 “the other”, represented in the community he documented for the series “Desert Dancers”.
[GOA PHOTO] How did you start in photography? How was your first contact with a camera?
[ANDRÉS] When I was 15 years old I had my first contact with photography in high school, in a black and white lab they had. Been able to work with images was a magical thing to do back then. Was there where I knew I wanted to be connected to images for life. All the other students who joined that class ended up quitting, so I had the laboratory for myself. At one point I had the key, so for two years that was one of my favorite personal spaces.
[GOA PHOTO] Can you tell us a little bit of your career in photography, your main projects and experiences?
[ANDRÉS] Between 1998 and 2003 “La Nave” was created, a collective of photographers and designers. After finishing School of Photo Art in Chile, with a group of students we decided to join forces, and rented a space that allowed us to work together in our photographic projects. From this collaborative space we were able to keep on generating art as freely as possible.
Once “La Nave” was dissolved I kept working around portraits, in projects like “Transgresión, Transición, Transigencia”, a series of portraits taken on the streets with portable lighting equipment and a fabric as a background. These were portraits of teen urban tribes that populated Santiago on 2007. It was a strong social phenomenon, in reaction to the repression suffered during the dictatorship and the influence of globalization, specially the Japanese culture.
These days I continue with my project “Desert Dancers” and “Tiradores” or Pullers. “The Pullers” as a trade, starts from the Colony times (beginning of the 20st century) and has persisted within the city’s traditions. People that come from the underground and with very little access to formal education, are the ones in charge of transporting, using their own strength, the wagons that contain the stands and merchandise of the flea or farmers markets. Their bodies are capable of pulling carts that could reach 2 tons, on an average of 10 km per trip. The impact that modern times, the technological development and the economical model have produced, affected the markets, therefore the pullers. Many have chosen to use pickup trucks to move their stands and products. This has affected the trade, which right now is about to be considered extinct. In the last 10 years, as they say, the number of pullers dropped 50%. This trade is not only part of the local tradition but also posses a universal aspect that’s present in different cultures and latitudes. This allows the creation of connections and relationships between local cultures and others.
This project is a recognition to the human effort on succeeding despite the environmental adversity, the social injustice and marginalization product of a perverse socio-economic system and becomes visible a sector and social reality that has been permanently ignored.
[GOA PHOTO] In your bio, it’s said that you develop your projects as a series of documentary research. Can you explain us this concept?
[ANDRÉS] My work is not the result of one trip. I chose a topic and, since I’m independent, I have no time limit to work on a theme. I can use as much time as I want, normally years. I go back to those places, I establish relationships, I become part of their celebrations, part of the phenomenon. And within this I try to understand these topics with greater deepness. This is why I say my work is a documentary research, instead of one specific encounter with a subject.
[GOA PHOTO] You can tell that you are a documentary photographer? Or you define your work differently?
[ANDRÉS] I define my work as a hybrid that contains elements of documentary, contemporary art, with special interest in the human being and his behavior.
[GOA PHOTO] About the work “Desert Dancers” how did you get this idea, and how was the photographic process?
[ANDRÉS] I’ve always felt a strong attraction to the Atacama Desert. On 2001 I had the opportunity to make a deep journey where I did my “Desierto” work, a series of landscapes and portraits. This was a hallucinating experience. I was able to feel myself very intensely, listen to my breath and my footsteps while walking… listen to the wind and all the things that happen to you when you are alone in the desert.
But what motivated me the most was my own ignorance about the religious festivities and the strong attraction that this had on me. This because of the presence of the original cultures within them, because of my own need of the ritual and because my remoteness with religions. Also because of the drive to go after identity signs, and the desire of knowing in situ about this cultural and social phenomenon’s of great magnitude and energy.
In 2008 I started Desert Dancers by going back to Atacama, traveling to see the religious festivities of La virgen de la Tirana and La virgen de Ayquina.
At the beginning of this project my idea was to make a series of portraits using neutral backgrounds, like walls or the sky, so people could be emphasized as well as the symbols of their costumes. Later I started to integrate the landscape and the context, the view of the town or the pilgrim’s improvised campsites during the festivities. Also, I began to register the drums that belonged to the different bronze bands that give companionship to the dances. I started photographing some everyday details like the costumes drying under the sun and other elements like masks and crosiers.
With all this material, the idea is to finish the project with the edition of a photo book.
[GOA PHOTO] So far where have you presented this work? And how was the audience feedback?
[ANDRÉS] “Bailarines del desierto” has been exposed at Photoquai, Paris, 2003. The audience reception was splendid. This project can reach the interest of a wide spectrum of people, and it became very attractive because of the nature of these pictures. Photoquai was open to all Paris pedestrians, which allowed the images to be seen by an eclectic group of people.
[GOA PHOTO] The theme of Goa Photo’s first edition is “The Other”, so can you tell us how is “the other” present in the series you are going to present there?
[ANDRÉS] “The other” in this work it’s the habitant of the world’s driest desert. Every year they celebrate this religious festivity, as a community of people that connect with their divinity without intermediaries, in an act of empowerment and as an answer to a society charged with social injustice.
When I say that this “other” is a community, I mean that every member of the family is part of this celebration. From the old ones to their children.
Through their dance, they fulfill a vow where they asked for health, work and wellbeing for their families, basic rights that are denied or at best ignored by society. Also, they do this for simple devotion, as a sign of gratitude to the divinity.
[GOA PHOTO] As an artist, what do you think is the importance of a festival, and what can it do for photography?
[ANDRÉS] For me, the importance of a festival is in the fact that it’s a space where the public and the authors get to connect through the photographic work. This way, the public gets in contact with a variety of projects where they can understand photography as a language that expresses ideas, questions and opinions.
Also, for me, festivals are an opportunity to meet other authors, share experience and learn about our views of photography.
[GOA PHOTO] Have you ever been in India? If not what you expect to see? Are you planning to do some photography work there?
[ANDRÉS] I have not been in India yet and I am so exited with this trip, I go with no preconceived ideas, open to what India wants to show me … I hope to meet people and soak in the culture right through them, clear understanding that the time factor in this first trip is limited.
Originally published at goaphoto.tumblr.com.
