Star maps

What pieces or projects have you been working on lately?
Over the past few months, I've been collecting and taking photographs for a series I'd like to exhibit. This project is divided into three parts. I'm currently working on the first part, titled "First Contact." I'm interested in the idea of ​​how every encounter, however small, unexpected, or significant, opens the possibility of creating shared universes. I believe that each person is a habitable planet with their own strength, rhythm, and language. I explore what happens when these worlds meet and/or collide.

Since around 2017, I've been documenting the things that have caught my attention. Over the years, I discovered they were connected to my earliest childhood memories: the spaces we inhabit (how they look, the sounds they make, how they make me feel, those characteristics that bring me back as if I were there for the first time), what we take away from each person we meet, the objects that distinguish us, and even dreamlike souvenirs. Through photographs, videos, and the accompaniment of music, I seek to translate these encounters into star maps: traces that intertwine over time, like an explorer and traveler of each planet I've visited since that first encounter, and how we begin to make them our own.

My other ongoing project, “Arboleda” (the second part), is a poetic, written, and visual exploration related to trees. These “trees” were experiences and connections that now form part of my identity, but which I can no longer inhabit. What remains unsaid? What do you do with the traces they left within you? A space born from within, where each extension of a tree begins to become part of a new identity. I address themes related to intimacy, absence, pain, loss, and farewells in the form of personal and collective reflections.

The third part has a name, but the concept is still in development. I have ideas, but nothing is defined yet. I'd like to talk about the natural versus the artificial, especially how natural environments are transformed and adapted by human intervention. For example, natural landscapes that blend with artificial light, portraits of humankind and its machines; its objects, its clothing, pollution, garbage, cables—all that once was and now remains abandoned and obsolete, yet adapts to this growth. 

What did you learn (or unlearn) while working on it?
I learned that even if I can't define or name my projects or works, sometimes things follow such a natural course that it's simply a matter of observing in detail those patterns—clues—that you've been following over time. It's easier to develop a theme if you immerse yourself in its universe, without forcing it, and simply trust that impulse that beats within you. I unlearned that inspiration isn't only found on Instagram, that there are artists who may not be in your field but who also speak your language, and that's beautiful. 

What words, ideas or emotions were going through your head?
The dreamlike, primarily, memory, melancholy, what remains, intimacy, themes related to astrophysics and emotional pain. 

Were there any conversations, movies, music, or books that made their way into that work?
Yes, mainly notes and drawings of my dreams, books: “Habitable Planets” by Elisa Díaz Castelo, “Complete Poetry” by Pizarnik, “Deep Sleep” by Banana Yoshimoto, “The Weightless” by Valeria Luiselli, research on psychology and psychoanalysis, “The Myth of Sisyphus”, conversations with people I would like to mention, YouTube channels that talk about astrophysics and a new one I found at the beginning of this year called “stargaze”, music: Lone, BOC, Alphex Twin, my favorite BAKGROUND and Night Tapes. Movies, anime series, and documentaries: The OA, "Tokyo-Ga," and the films of Wim Wenders, "After Yang," "Haru," "Love," "Paterson," the films of Wong Kar-wai, Twin Peaks, Utena, Sailor Moon, and a lot of Hey Arnold! (I love it). Work by photographers: Alex Webb, Josh Kern, Cecy Young, Maxi Magnano, and finally, "City of Darkness Revisited" by photographer Greg Girard and Sophie Calle. The truth is, the list is very long, but these are the things I'm most focused on right now.

What's been the most difficult thing you've faced recently in your creative process?
Starting the project, reviewing my files because of the emotional toll it took on my physical and emotional health. The motivation to continue despite discouragement. Sticking to a schedule because my work style is more driven by bursts of creativity.

What is your favorite restaurant and what do you recommend we order?
My favorite restaurant is Tama Shokudo, and I recommend ordering the shrimp curry! They have a super cute, homey atmosphere, and they also have manga. I recommend going during the rainy season.

If your life were a movie this month, what would it be called and who would write the soundtrack?
“Paper Boats” and Pinback would do it.

Recommend one or more artists you follow who inspire you, and tell us what you like most about their work or their way of working.
The three photographers who have been inspiring me the most are Josh Kern, Greg Girard, and Cecy Young. Josh Kern has a beautiful way of speaking through his photographs; they're real, raw, and full of emotions that are difficult to express, and I think some of those emotions can only be conveyed through a photograph. I feel like I can be right there with him, and although it's autobiographical, it doesn't feel egocentric. Greg Girard is an incredible photographer. I'm impressed that the things he observes are also things that catch my attention, and that similarity is what captivates me. His work is also raw, but in a way that shows scenes and people with a naturalness that doesn't feel artificial, although the lighting and tones in his photos do cross that line. Cecy Young is a great inspiration to me. I've followed her work for many years, and her transparent, passionate, and consistent approach not only makes her a great mentor but also excellent at what she does. I love her photographs for their tones, delicacy, femininity, and a perspective that feels like stepping back into the eighties.