Dear friends,
I am happy to announce my upcoming photo book "Residents and Visitors", that I am currently working on.
It will consist of selected photographic essays from my five-year journeys to Mexico. The main thematic axis of the book is the relationship between Mexican natives and immigrants from the West in the context of local culture, religion, and social life.
On one side of the axis are local communities, where I was warmly welcomed and trusted together with my camera. I traveled purposefully to get to know the deeper corners of the country, searching for what is hidden from the surface. These are "living" experiences and the insights that flow from them, which allowed me to understand the lives of communities far removed from Western civilization and the global world, and to give voice to the people of these social spaces through photography.
On the other side of the axis are tourist “attractions” that once had great cultural value to pre-hispanic communities, but have now become tourist epicenters where visitors feel “kings” and locals sell souvenirs and otherwise entertain guests. The book will provide both a cultural perspective and context, as well as my experiences and the stories of the local people I met.
In the form of travel and documentary photography, I aim to present a special portrait of Mexico, the way the country was opening to me, holding the contradiction between the two worlds, the authentic and the imposed, emphasizing the point where the two worlds intersect. The book raises an important and topical question about the ethics of tourism.
The publishing date of the book,
in cooperation with Kitos Knygos publishing house,
is planned for the end of 2021 - beginning of 2022.
Please follow for updates.
