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Abelardo Morell’s current New York exhibitions — “The Universe Next Door” at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery and “Groundwork” at Bonni Benrubi Gallery — reinvent conventional photographic landscapes. Using the age-old practice of camera obscura, Morell (b. 1948) casts outside scenes onto interior walls; other times, he sets up a tent, projecting his nearby surroundings onto surfaces ranging from a Brooklyn rooftop to a dried-up plot of Texas desert. Each space is transformed into a pinhole installation activated by daylight, which the artist then documents with his camera. Morell’s photographs bring the outside in and reflect on the materiality of both manmade and natural worlds.

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“The Universe Next Door” is on view at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery through this Saturday, December 18, 2010.

“Abelardo Morell: Groundwork” is on view at Bonni Benrubi Gallery through January 8, 2011

Kudos to NYC's New Museum of Contemporary Art for a last-minute addition to their Winter schedule. In the lobby of the Bowery art space through January 23, 2011 will be the now controversial video "A Fire in my Belly" that was unceremoniously, suddenly removed from view at the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. David Wojnarowicz was an artist who used photography and film, and who died of AIDS in 1992. A watered-down 4 minute cut of the original 1987 video was on display and outraged a conservative religious group, the Catholic League, led by Bill Donohue, who threatened the NPG until they relented and censored the piece. The misunderstood video had been made in response to the death of his friend, photographer Peter Hujar, and contained, among other things, religious symbolism that was subverted for a purpose (not perverted, as Donohoe's reading has alleged.) The artist presented a shot of insects crawling on a crucifix in an attempt to express martyrdom and vulnerability in the face of the violence and cruelty he saw in modern life. There was a wonderful piece in the New York Times this week by Holland Cotter, in which he explains that in "Wojnarowicz’s nature symbolism — and this is confirmed in other works — ants were symbols of a human life mechanically driven by its own needs, heedless of anything else. Here they blindly swarm over an emblem of suffering and self-sacrifice." (fromhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/11/arts/design/11ants.html?_r=1=desig...)

One would think that a viewer who enters a show subtitled, "Difference and Desire in American Portraiture,” would understand and accept the thesis, and enter the space with an open mind, ready to see and hear and feel things outside of his/her own realm of experience. If you haven't seen the video, hurry down to the New Museum and decide for yourself: 235 Bowery, NYC Wednesday 11-6 PM Thursday 11-9 PM Friday, Saturday, Sunday 11-6 PM The Museum is closed to the public on Monday and Tuesday Free Thursday Evenings (from 7 PM to 9 PM) http://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/

In conjunction with the exhibition HELP ME: Found Photos from the Collection of Gillian McCain, the Camera Club of New York (CCNY) is hosting a panel discussion about found photography at School of Visual Arts Ampitheater this Tuesday, December 14, at 7 p.m.. Luc Sante, W.M. Hunt, and Leslie Grant, and moderator/co-curator Megan Cump will each present excerpts from their collections of found photographs and related projects while addressing the resonance, subversive possibilities, and relevance of found and vernacular photography, including themes from the HELP ME exhibition. Tuesday, December 14 7pm The School of Visual Arts Amphitheater 209 East 23rd Street (2nd and 3rd Ave), 3rd Floor. HELP ME is on view at CCNY through December 18th. http://www.cameraclubny.org/exhibitions.html

Voix Pictures out of Zaragoza, Spain follows the traditional model of news photography agency, but aims to serve more than just news outlets. They have (or are attempting to) combine[d] multidisciplinary skill sets in hope of serving a wider client base, all the while keeping in mind their goals as humanist documentary photographers. I recently asked them a few questions:

Tell me what you think about photography on the internet and where it is going. Where do you fit in??

Internet has brought some positive aspects to photography. For a start, it has democratized it, enabling many talented photographers to showcase their work and make a name for themselves. It has definitely provided a new, realistic avenue for people to immerse themselves in photography - immediacy, affordable marketing and the possibility for all to have their own space. In this context, Voix Pictures has definitely benefitted. We are a small Spain-based collective yet we have been able to create a global business thanks to Internet. We can be anywhere, at anytime for anyone. It is easy now for others to discover us. Without internet, maybe we would have felt inclined to aim our efforts at attracting a local niche of clients.

Would you say that you are a documentary photographers? How would you define “documentary” photography?

Documentary photography is what attracted us to the medium in the first place. Although we enjoy covering both commercial and documentary assignments, it is the latter that makes us enjoy our work the most. Antoine d'Agata said "I document what I live and live the situations I document." and this is certainly what has motivated us at Voix. The members of Voix all come from very different, multidisciplinary backgrounds, so even though we are all documentary photographers we are all very different in our style. We do have one common interest, and that is humanitarian photography, hence the creation of Voix Inspire, a branch dedicated to supporting NGOs' visual needs. We all have experience in this field and it is something we are always looking out for. The way we understand documentary photography, its most important aspect is to be a witness of events and ensure that the visual story that you tell provides both all possible information and a valuable opinion. Nowadays where everyone has a camera, the journalist's reputation and understanding of the event can make a huge a difference. It is important, one could say almost necessary, to take sides. In our agency, we aim to go one step further and not just cover an event in its traditional sense, but be aesthetically different, which can open up other avenues for their use, such as art galleries, photobooks, etc. Documentary photography should in this sense not be limited to the strict sense of the word which may imply a photojournalistic approach. A lot of excellent documentary photography can delve in the artistic, and we feel that there are a lot of options available nowadays for this.

What do you think about the photographs and photographers in western Europe as compared to photographers from the US? Is there any difference?

This is actually a question that probably has a complex answer. Is it possible to recognize the author of a photograph by just looking at it? Only in a handful of ocassions. Is it possible to recognize the nationality of an author by just looking at a picture? We don't think so. At the end of the day, both the US and Western Europe both represent the white first world view on global issues. We think that there may be a more noticeable difference in today's photography between an African, Asian versus a US/Western European white middle-class photographer. Ultimately, like in many other areas of today's issues, there still persists a post-colonial mentality that shapes our view of the world. And us the photographers, are contributing to this notion and also to keeping this prejudiced mentality going. With regards to US and Europe, we think that the difference lies not so much in the photographers and their style, but in the way the various countries consume images. There is a clear difference in terms of influence, for instance American landscape versus pictorial European photography, but generally there are more exceptions than rules when it comes to differentiating the two. Excellent photographers from the Us are Alec Soth, Chris Jordan, Edward Burtynsky (Canadian), and European photographers that we very much like are Martin Parr, Anastasia Taylor Lind, Espen Rasmussen and David Gillanders to name but a few. It could happen that you tread on dangerous ground by dividing artists by regional or national outlook. For example, Robert Frank, he was a Swiss photographer clearly influencing American photography. How many European photographers have followed influenced by American photographers after Robert Frank? And now, with Internet and global mass media how can we talk about localised approach to photography? When talking about influences, it not only happens overseas, but also between regions. For instance, historically Dutch landscape artists influenced the rest of Europe. German photography this century has clearly influenced modern photography. And so on.

We mustn't forget South American photographers that are working nowadays in major agencies such as Reuters and AP, therefore influencing with their style, opinions and committed storytelling.

After moving to the U.S. to study photography, Mexico-based photographer Elizabeth Moreno has spent the past two and a half years documenting her birthplace of La Paz, Baja California Sur. During that time, with help from a Jovenes Creadores 2009-2010 Grant (given by FONCA-CONACULTA), she has been able to document the daily life of the ranchero communities in the area. For her efforts toward this burgeoning project, which is titled “Lejos de las Urbes, Cerca de la Tierra,” Ms. Moreno was recently awarded the 2010 Daylight Magazine / CDS Work-in-Process Prize. She is continuing work on the project throughout the next year and will have an exhibition of the work in February in La Paz, Baja California Sur. This past week, Daylight caught up with Ms. Moreno to ask her some questions about the project as well as about her experiences working as a documentary photographer.

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Interview by Trent Davis Bailey
Photographs by Elizabeth Moreno

Daylight: Could you explain your series, “Lejos de las Urbes, Cerca de la Tierra,” (“Far from the Cities, Close to the Earth”) as it relates to present-day social, economic, and environmental factors?

Elizabeth Moreno: With this series I am trying to portray a way of life that is rapidly changing and most likely coming to an end in the Peninsula of Baja California. As it has happened around the world since the industrial revolution, the countryside is being abandoned and its people absorbed by the urban environment. In this transition, a lot of their culture, traditions and knowledge are being lost.

Because of the isolation in which they live, the rancheros of Baja California have maintained the same lifestyle for almost 300 years. And now, for many reasons — such as bad remuneration for their work, a lack of sustainable development support by the government and/or NGOs, and the rancheros selling their land at very cheap prices — a lot of the younger generations are migrating to towns or cities.

Talking about environmental issues, I think that the rancheros, with a little support and direction from the government and NGOs, could be the best [facilitators] to take care of the peninsula’s fragile environment. But most of the time, because of deficient communication, urban people perceive the rancheros as predators and as a threat to the environment even though they have managed to be productive and live in this land for three centuries.

From the series, “Lejos de las Urbes, Cerca de la Tierra."

D: I’m interested in your use of the diptych as an aesthetic practice. More specifically, what inspired you to use diptychs for photojournalistic pursuits?

EM: I used diptychs in my previous project, “Huellas,” which paired untouched and transformed landscapes of Baja California Sur. Upon completion of “Huellas,” I wanted to take this way of photographing to a project that involved people. My current project (“Lejos de las Urbes, Cerca de la Tierra”) started with the idea to portray the rancheros within their environment. Working with diptychs allows me to put more emphasis on the little details I find in their surroundings. By using two contiguous images, I try to give more power to the images, show bits of information about their culture … and set [this information] side-by-side with each person I photograph. While I was working this way, I also started to photograph moments in their daily life. In this case, using a diptych allows me to play with time. It is the same event but each image is registered seconds, sometimes minutes apart. I find these instances more challenging to photograph because I have almost no time to scout the shot. It has to be identified and organized into two frames at the time that it is happening and you don’t know if it will work until you put the two images together. I find this way of shooting more exciting, even though I love doing the portrait part of the project too.

From the series, "Huellas."

D: When I first saw this series, I immediately thought of the multiple frame archetype of David Hilliard’s work; however, your photographs seem much more candid and less tableau. In these photographs, do you take directorial control of your subjects or are you just acting as witness to their lives?

EM: I do take directorial control in some of the portraits, but that is only related to the location (background) I want to make the portrait in. I don’t ask for a certain pose or attitude from the people I am photographing. Other times I find the person right where I want to photograph him or her and just do it with out having to ask them to move around. The diptychs that display moments of daily life are also spontaneous and I don’t take any kind of control on those shots.

D: At what point did you realize you wanted to become a photographer?

EM: I decided during my last semester of high school. I had been photographing (or learning to) for few years then and one of my tutors asked me what I would see myself doing in 10 or 20 years. I had many options and interests but I couldn’t see anything else but being a photographer.

D: How, if at all, does your cultural background influence your photographic ventures?

EM: I think the education I received and my cultural background definitely have shaped and continue to shape my career. I am curious about other people’s lives, their work, their traditions, their struggles and good times, and photography is a the way I can share this process with others who know nothing or very little about the themes and people I work with.

D: Regarding “the themes and people you work with,” you’ve photographed everything from gypsum mining to giant squid fishing to Alzheimer’s patients. How do you decide on and gravitate towards an idea or project? Is there a unifier to your photographic process and interests?

EM: For the past five years, I have mainly focused on themes that I have found in Baja California Sur, trying to depict what is currently happening in this isolated Mexican state. During the last two and a half years, all of my projects have happened because I am really interested in the themes, not because someone else has assigned them. Particularly, my last two projects, “Huellas” and “Lejos de las Urbes, Cerca de la Tierra,” started from a very deep interest in the environmental and social issues that exist in the peninsula’s countryside and coasts. Before starting stories somewhere else I have felt the necessity to document what is happening in the places I grew up in—and during a time that everything is changing really fast.

Both images from the series, "Giant Squid Fishing."

D: Given the level in which you embed yourself in your projects, there must be times when it is difficult to gain acceptance as a photographer—or to gain access to your subjects. Out of all of your projects, which has been the most difficult and why?

EM: I think the most difficult and dangerous project was the Squid Fishing story. Everything was shot on the pier and there was a lot of drug business there. It was hard for them to get used to us walking around and trust that we weren’t going to turn them in or show the images to the police. I didn’t ever feel safe, but it did help that I was there with my partner. On the other hand, in the series I am working right now, “Lejos de las Urbes, Cerca de la Tierra,” I don't want a superficial story that can be done in a week, so I have had to work hard to establish close relationships to be able to have a closer look at their lives. It has required a lot of time and effort but it has been a great experience.

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For more information about Elizabeth and her work, visit: http://www.emorenophoto.com/