What began as a personal project exploring the concept of the urban portrait ended up as a sharp statement about urban life when Colombian photographer and filmmaker Juan Sebastian Pinilla photographed a friend, Carolina Guzik, on a Miami street corner in 2012. The result was a photograph that speaks of "the danger present on every corner, about the being and the scale of values, … Read the full Story >>
Eduardo Corral, a.k.a. TLaloC, is an artist from Monterrey, México currently studying Illustration Practice at the Maryland Institute College of Art on a Fulbright Scholarship. He is also a winner of the Latin American Ilustración 2 competition, and his illustration work was included in the LAI “Los Diez” traveling exhibition sponsored by Epson. DFLA will take feature his winning work later, but today we spotlight Corral’s “Elgreen Project,” a collection of illustrations depicting mysterious “artifacts” of his own creation. “The work explores the human fascination with the unknown, driven by a playful reinterpretation of nostalgia,” says Corral, who is illustrating one strange object each day through 2014. Read the full Story >>
Toto Cullen, originally from Argentina and now living in New York, takes a global approach to his photographic interests: He says that photographing people from all over the world is what inspires him the most. He was certainly inspired when he photographed Sudanese model Grace Bol in 2012 for a fashion editorial. His portraits of Boi later earned Cullen a spot among the winners … Read the full Story >>
Photographer Star Montana is a two-time winner of the Latin American Fotografia competition. Her photograph "Gloria, The Constructs of Mexican-Americanism," selected for LAF 2, will be spotlighted here in the near future. Today, we feature her series "Saint Louise Ascends" and "Saint Louise is Our Salvation," which were chosen in the LAF 1 contest. That work, an intimate look at her own family life, … Read the full Story >>
Sometimes, the key to a perfect photograph is the right setting. Such was the case for photographer Gabriel Rinaldi's fashion story for Crescer, a Brazilian magazine focused on parenting. For the story, about an elegant soiree with kids dressed stylishly, Rinaldi shot in a baroque mansion in the Sao Paulo neighborhood of Bixiga. "Kids wouldn't look at a space like that and understand why … Read the full Story >>
If you were choosing the most vain person on earth based on his or her Twitter followers, who would win? Soccer great Cristiano Ronaldo, with 10 million followers. That is the message of Colombian illustrator Oscar Correa's film poster "Cristiano Ronaldo Most Vain, May 2012," designed for the innovative 140 Characters Film Festival, a collection of Twitter-based films that run 140 seconds or less. … Read the full Story >>
"As a young boy from Bogota, Colombia, who grew up in the United States, I found it hard to connect with my community and roots during my teen years. I had very few memories of Colombia and my once-distinct Spanish accent was no longer prominent," notes Antonio Pulgarin. It was Pulgarin's effort to reconnect with roots that drove him to create his Latin American … Read the full Story >>
In 2010, German-born and New York City-based photographer Lothar Troeller was visiting Medellin, Colombia, where his wife, the photographer Linda Troeller, was teaching a course in self-portraiture at the Centro Cultural de Moravia to young women from the city's favelas. "Each day, I would go out with my camera," he says. Troeller looked at the city as a visitor, trying to find what made … Read the full Story >>
Nik Neves calls himself a "designer and traveler," for good reason. Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Neves has studied in Barcelona and New York City and lived recently in Munich, Germany and London. Two years ago, his wanderlust led him to Ukraine for a guided tour of the ruins of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the abandoned nearby town of Pripyat. What at … Read the full Story >>
It was in 2012 that photographer Nick Ballon stumbled upon the story of Lloyd Areo Boliviano, the national airline of Bolivia. One of the oldest airlines in the world, LAB is now a failing business with a crumbling fleet of airplanes, a victim of venal mismanagement. For Ballon, the airline became a symbol of a country that, as he puts it, has lost every … Read the full Story >>
Janet Jarman, a US-born photographer now living in Mexico, is used to the difficulties that photojournalists often face, such as getting access to subjects. But she was presented with a more profound challenge in 2012, when she helped a friend with AIDS gain access to anti-retroviral medication in the Mexican public health system. Her friend, a shaman named Grey Wolf, was close to death … Read the full Story >>
Congratulations again to the winners of the Latin American Fotografía 2 competition, who were named earlier this month. Starting this week, a selection of the winning work is being showcased in a special feature at the online photography magazine aCurator, edited by Julie Grahame. The LAF 2 winners featured are Antonio Pulgarin (Colombia); Janet Jarman (USA); Gabriel Rinaldi (Bazil); Damian Liviciche (Argentina); Lianne Milton (USA); Marcelo Perez del Carpio (Bolivia); Nicole Franco (Mexico); Luiz Maximiano (Brazil); Lothar Troeller (Germany/USA); Marcela Angeles Macedo (Mexico); Neto Merhy (Brazil); Pedro Arieta (Brazil); and Eduardo del Burgo (Argentina). Read the full Story >>
In February 2012, a group of people with disabilities marched into La Paz, Bolivia, after a 100-day trek. Their intent was to demand an increase in government assistance, but as they attempted to enter the Plaza Murillo, location of the Government Palace, they were met by police; undaunted, several marchers took off their clothes to continue their protest. There to document the scene was … Read the full Story >>
At age 25, photographer Stefan Chow climbed Mount Everest--and that was only one of his many memorable assignments. His project "The Poverty Line" has won a number of accolades, while other work has earned him prizes from World Press Photo, Photo District News, and the International Photo Awards. In 2012, he took on a project commissioned by BrasFELS, one of the biggest shipyards in … Read the full Story >>
Today at the AI-AP Big Talk Symposium in New York City, the winners of the second-annual Latin American Latin American Fotografía and Latin American Latin American Ilustración competitions are being announced. The Dispatches From Latin America newsletter sends its congratulations to all the winners. We hope to see many of you tomorrow night at The Party, where 10 winners will be featured in an exhibition called Los Diez, which is being produced by Epson. (The event takes place at the Angel Orensanz Foundation, 172 Norfolk St., New York. Time: 7:00PM to 11:00PM.) And we look forward to profiling the LAF 2 and LAI 2 winners every week here over the next year. Read the full Story >>
The Orinoqua Region of Colombia, part of the watershed of the Orinoco River, is also known simply as the "Eastern Plains," from the Spanish Llanos Orientales. It is an area of vast savannahs best known for the abundance of cattle that are raised there on huge ranches--and the men who tend to the herds, a distinct breed of cowboys who, as Colombia-born photographer Claudia … Read the full Story >>
In 2006, Brazilian photographer Leandro Viana began documenting the experience of Bolivians who had come to his country in the hope of finding work, and a better life. "They were coming in great numbers and changing the face of my home, Sao Paulo," he notes. "My idea was to show all the things they do to maintain their culture while living in another country." … Read the full Story >>
"All of us fear being forgotten; that's why photographs take on different meanings over time," says Tina Wang. Born and raised in Nanjing, China, Wang recently moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was in Tigre, a nearby city in Buenos Aires Province, that Wang encountered two elderly women enjoying afternoon tea at a sidewalk cafe. "I thought to myself, 'I hope I can do … Read the full Story >>
In the town of San Antonio de Los Baos, Cuba, a young girl rests on her uncle's back, her arms holding onto his shoulders. She looks off into the distance--as if toward the future, says photographer Giorgio Blasi, who captured the scene in 2007. In contrast, the uncle's melancholy gaze seems to reflect the weight of the past. "It made me think of the … Read the full Story >>
Latin American Fotografia 1 winner Raul Benavente has a day job in a copper mine in the Atacama desert of northern Chile, the driest desert on Earth. He is also a dedicated photographer and has been documenting phantoms--mining towns that once were filled with life when the country was the world's largest exporter of saltpeter in the early 20th century. All that is left … Read the full Story >>
