Karla Guerrero: Poetic Image
Karla Guerrero (b. 1993, Mexico City) is a fine art photographer and cultural manager. Guerrero’s work emerged from experiences and interactions of oneself with space and things, responding to the transient and the absent; memory, loss, and void. From the poetic and the phenomenological, her work shows a combination of interior images and still life, based on the construction of a visual language with theoretical and literary references. Since 2017 she has participated in an international scene with greater scope and representation of contemporary photography as a curator, writer, and portfolio reviewer. In 2019 she founded Femgrafía, a platform for women photographers in Latin America and Spain. Recently, she was selected by Artpil as one of the 30 under 30 women photographers.
“Our house is our corner of the world. As has often been said, it is our first universe, a real cosmos in every sense of the word.” - Gaston Bachelard
IL: Hey Karla, its a pleasure to interview you on DRP and more so in spanish. Could you talk a little bit about yourself?
KG: I still believe that an image (photographic) can say much more and that is why I’ve been a photographer for six years. With my photographic work I’ve been able to produce exhibitions, curate and review portfolios, take part in workshops and advising with much to still explore.
In my day to day I do a lot of things related to digital communications that are focused in areas of creative and cultural management while working on several collaborations with different platforms and international organizations that investigate topics on contemporary and modern art and Latin American contemporary art and photography.
IL: I’d like to inquire further into the cultural programming that you do. For now, when did you become interested of photography?
KG: It started when my family archives; specifically with polaroids of my grandfather. Soon after, while I started a career in visual communications, I decided to compliment my studies with photography. I completed my studies in Fine Art Photography at Fundacion Pedro Meyer and Academia de Artes Visuales in Mexico City.
IL: Your story reminds me of the photograph of Roland Barthes mother, which is never pictured in his seminal book Camera Lucida, that we now know informed his own entry point into the essence of photography. Do you recall any particular image of your grandfather that played a big role as you further explored image making?
KG: You can find these images in my series, Jorge below.
IL: In your series, Cada casa que crece (2021) you explore themes of home by reconstructing space with the use of photography. How did this particular work come about?
KG: Since I started making this work, I’ve had a special relationship to the spaces I’ve inhabited and those I’ve traversed, just like I do with certain objects. Accordingly, I’ve reflected on this more and I began to realize the importance of my family archive as the basis for the work I make but also as object; just as I relate to spaces and things. My work derives from being more conscious to that relationship and furthermore reflect on it.
Cada casa que crece emerges from that particular exploration of home deriving from familiar places but viewed from my archive to form a digital montage and juxtaposed to my present day spaces. These images are composed through the observation and recognition of a visual aesthetic with textures, decorative patterns and light to create similarities within an abstracted space.
IL: In your earlier series, Manifiesto para un espacio poético (2018-2020), you also work with themes of home as you capture the spaces that you lived in between 2018 and 2020. You mention as an inspiration, The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard. Could you talk a little bit about that work and its influence?
KG: Today, we can see distinct works in literature, philosophy, architecture and visual art that references Bachelard. In the case of my work, this project was the result of reading different theories around the poetic image and the phenomenology of space. With this in mind I developed this project not only as a photographic body but as a manifest indicating a perspective for the exploration of space from a poetic and phenomenological approach.
The spaces that are captured in my photographs bring together images of hotel rooms and some of my childhood homes; spaces that I’ve both inhabited and traversed with frequency during 2018 through 2020. From the moment the pandemic occured I began to reconsider how to access a space. Could I access it through memory? Through my imagination? These questions brought me to create a curatorial project that parallels called The Poetics (@_thepoetics) where I began to access the spaces of others with a curated approach and (with the series in mind) the manifestation and the overall phenomenal distinction of the study of consciousness and objects from my direct experience.
I manifest this idea towards a poetic space while addressing the theme of home but only as a superficial element. This brings me to the question, how can we photograph a daydream? Or in similar case, how do we experience a habitable space through a photograph?
IL: Are there any more questions that follow through your photographic body of work?
KG: With my work I try to explore further themes of the transient and the absent; memory, loss and void. For me, still life brings with it an enormous amount of symbolism. It is for this reason that when I create an image I try to be conscious of the objects that I photograph. I let them speak to me and I try to analyze the perspective from which I am observing because the more connected I feel to what I photograph, the more I hope those who view my work can do so as well. The medium that I use also influences that connection, wether its with polaroid film or digital.
The reflections and questions I have, from the moment I make the work, are thousands. I try to explain my creative process so much because I write a lot, I question, I make notes, I view, I observe and I repeat.
IL: You have also curated another platform for a few years now on behalf of Women photographers called Femgrafía where you highlight the work of women photographers across Latin America and Spain. Which could be considered as a platform could serve as a photographic collection for future generations to view.
KG: Femgrafía emerged from my need to get to know more women photographers. When I launched it in 2019 I was interviewing a lot of women who photograph and we concluded that there was a definite lack in the representation of us in the photographic community. This was the reason for the development of the INDEX portfolio and the archive of Femgrafía, where we can see the trajectory of their work. In fact it is actually composed of 64 talented artists.
Through different activities and content, Femgrafía serves as a platform for the diffusion and creation of the work of women photographers in Latin America and Spain where we review portfolios, build community and collaboration within an international space as well as showcase and curate digital exhibitions. So yes, the contributions made on the platform through femgrafiafoto.tumblr.com, our Instagram pages @femgrafia and @femgrafialab are without a doubt a collection and archive made for the future generation to reference through the digital mediums we utilize.
IL: After creating this platform and seeing so many works and projects by women over the course of 3 years, how has your perspective changed on the the female gaze?
KG: I conceived an interest in the feminine lens after studying Art History and then pursuing photography. I feel grateful to be able to view so much work by women as well as the focus in photography that is brough to Femgrafia. Themes such as the female body, maternity, and trans youth are among the topics I have been able to review thanks to the submissions and photographers.
Before Femgrafia I was dedicated to reviewing portfolios while I collaborated as a writer for Espacio GAF under the section Pensar la Imagen as well as ViceVersa Magazine for their Fotografia and Cronica Cultural sections. This is where I became more familiar with photographers and emerging photographers. With that said my consideration is that the photographic image is universal and from wherever it can be seen, various peculiarities can emerge.
IL: Speaking of diverse lenses, I know that you are one of the 10 jurors for the Female in Focus awards given by the British Journal of Photography. Yourself, alongside Koral Caballo are the only two Mexican women who are on the jury for this prestigious award.
KG: A little bit of background, I previously submitted my work, twice, to Female in Focus and was not selected in either case. Subsequently, Femgrafía was a media partner last year and was asked to be a media partner again this year and then they invited me to be a juror as well. At any rate I may be able to say that my objective was reached by ultimately becoming part of Female in Focus in this unexpected way. In the future, I do believe there will be opportunities to have a more diverse panel within this award and others. In fact, I believe its necessary.
Within the last two years, I’ve appreciated the invitations and opportunities I have had as a juror and curator. For me, its a great responsibility and mode of learning.
Being able to be photographer and curator, photographer and juror, photographer and manager - is a way to direct and realize my career with passion and dedication. So for me, photography is 24/7 365 days a year.
IL: Thank you so much Karla. Glad to have you here!