In mid August, I headed down to Cuernavaca, Mexico, to visit with my old friend Marela Zacarias. Marela grew up around Mexico City but currently resides in New York City; she was on a trip to visit family and I was invited to tag along. The house we stayed at has been in her family for generations. This beautiful compound is a bit like Marquez’s House of a Hundred Years of Solitude. It is built on a large sloping hillside that is terraced and ends in a deep barranca below. Each level accommodates different areas including gardens, swings, walkways, and swimming pools, all in various states of repair.
There is a special magic to a place like this, a place where there are echoes of parties long since past, children grown up, and a future yet to come. One can imagine golden era Hollywood starlets, flirting under the canopy of lush trees, limbs embracing each other like lovers. If you listen carefully you can hear the sounds of children squealing in delight as they dash down the waterslide, crashing into the grotto like swimming pool. Here and there are the shadows of gardens being taken back by the jungle, gardens that must have grown abundant tropical flowers. The past is present, but there is also a great deal of promise, as slowly the structures are being reinforced against a climate that loves to decay anything in its grasp. Who knows what mysteries will unfold or what tails of love will transpire.
On a trip to the local artisans market, I purchased a small handmade, papier-mâché tiger mask. As I have previously discussed, I am trying to incorporate some different costumes and props into my images. One of the things I have always liked about working with long exposures is the anonymity, as my face is usually blurred and unrecognizable. I think that this allows my viewers to place themselves into the images. Now that I am fequently working in full daylight, using my neutral density filter, I find that I am more recognizable and a masking is a great solution. In the past, I created a lot of images dealing with issues of masking, whether through makeup, costumes or just personal identity. I feel like this is an interesting integration between work that is old and new.
