FOTO/GRÁFICA

A NEW HISTORY OF THE LATIN-AMERICAN PHOTOBOOK

CURATOR : HORACIO FERNANDEZ

JANUARY 20 – APRIL 8, 2012

Coinciding with the newly released book The Latin American Photobook, an exhibition curated by Horacio Fernandez will premiere at Le Bal in Paris, featuring over forty photobooks produced between 1921 and 2012. After Paris Foto/grafica will travel to Ivory Press, Madrid, Spain; Aperture Gallery, New York; Buenos-Aires, Argentina.

The idea of seeking and presenting the best photobooks of Latin America was born during the 2007 Latin-American forum on photography in São Paulo. On this occasion we observed the critical lack of a cartography of the books published in the 20th century on the continent. A rigorous investigation was lead to offset this silence by a systematic rescue of unquestionably valuable works, result of a complex alchemy between many ingredients: images, sequence, text, layout, binding, printing quality… The research focused exclusively on photobooks published in Latin America by Latin-American authors involved in carrying out their work. During three years, through 19 countries from Cuba to Patagonia, we interviewed photographers, graphic artists, collectors, scholars, publishers, and sifted through their libraries and archives. Chasing the unknown on the scale of a continent has converted this investigation into a quest both breathtaking and electrifying. The result is surprising. Powerful, complex, troubling, often forgotten, cursed or secret books have emerged. Throughout the pages, unfolds ‘‘something that is part of caress, complaint, appeal, complicity, bitter denunciation’’ (Julio Cortazar). Finally, this critical study reveals the remarkable contribution of Latin America in world history of photobook.

Advisory committee : Marcelo Brodsky, Iata Cannabrava, Lesley Martin, Martin Parr, Ramon Reverté.

A full program of meetings, debates, performances, lectures and screenings will accompany this remarkable presentation.