synopsis
A fantastic epic alongside Central American migrants
“Since 2015, when I started the project, I have met migrants at different stages of their journey, I have traveled with them on the train they call the Beast, I have interviewed hitmen (sicarios) and smugglers (coyotes). I have also researched landscapes and iconography in order to present the setting of this adventure, Mexico, as the fascinating, immense and extreme country that it is.”
Cristina De Middel presents the migratory route that crosses Mexico as a heroic journey: without denying the violence and dangers that migrants face, she constructs a sublime epic that overturns stereotypes. Combining her staged images tinged with magical realism with archival photos and objects found in the desert, she questions the ambiguous relationship that photography has with truth.
The testimonies of Elad, who left Cameroon, Noémie, originally from Haiti, or Lirian and Yariel who came from Cuba powerfully embody the diversity of these journeys all converging towards the Mexico-United States border. The interview with Jacques-André Istel, the astonishing mayor of Felicity, a place near the border self-proclaimed the center of the World by its founder, or the wonderful text by the Mexican journalist Pedro Anza “Finding the center” make Cristina De Middel’s images resonate.
Cristina De Middel presents the migratory route that crosses Mexico as a heroic journey: without denying the violence and dangers that migrants face, she constructs a sublime epic that overturns stereotypes. Combining her staged images tinged with magical realism with archival photos and objects found in the desert, she questions the ambiguous relationship that photography has with truth.
The testimonies of Elad, who left Cameroon, Noémie, originally from Haiti, or Lirian and Yariel who came from Cuba powerfully embody the diversity of these journeys all converging towards the Mexico-United States border. The interview with Jacques-André Istel, the astonishing mayor of Felicity, a place near the border self-proclaimed the center of the World by its founder, or the wonderful text by the Mexican journalist Pedro Anza “Finding the center” make Cristina De Middel’s images resonate.
photos of the book
technical information
Publisher : Textuel
2024
dimensions : 20 x 30
176 pages
2024
dimensions : 20 x 30
176 pages
about Cristina de Middel
Born 1975 in Alicante, Spain.
Lives and works in Brazil.
Lives and works in Brazil.
After ten years as a photojournalist, Cristina De Middel shifted her practice to a more conceptual approach in order to question the documentary value of photography. In 2012, she produced the acclaimed series The Afronauts, triggering a decade of work around the role of photography in creating stereotypes. Besides her prolific career as an author, and as an active member of the photography community, Cristina has been invited to curate festivals like Lagos Photo, PhotoEspaña, and San José Photo in Uruguay. She has published more than fourteen photobooks and her work is constantly on show in different institutions and venues. Cristina is on the board of Vist Projects, a platform to support Latin American visual story-telling, and she is a member of Magnum Photos agency and its president since 2022.
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Publisher : Textuel
2024
2024