The renowned photographer Flor Garduño, born in Mexico City in 1957, is known for her dreamlike and symbolic aesthetic. A retrospective exhibition of her work is set to open to the public on March 7 at the Palacio de Bellas Artes Museum. The exhibition, titled Flor Garduño: Paths of life , features approximately 114 black and white photographs and 32 pieces of jewelry that Garduño produced over a span of four decades.
The exhibition is divided into six thematic sections, showcasing the artist’s diverse creative processes. These range from capturing the day-to-day realities of rural communities in Mexico and Latin America, to creating intricate fictional landscapes using subtle montages. Garduño’s montages blend different lights, contrasts, objects and textures to create stunning visuals.
Garduño was fortunate to have learned from some of the best in her field. She studied visual arts at the National School of Plastic Arts where she was deeply influenced by her teacher Kati Horna. Horna’s vibrant personality and the magical, expressive quality of her photography had a profound impact on Garduño’s early career.
During the Flor Garduño: Trilogy, exhibition at the Colegio de San Ildefonso in 2011, Garduño shared how Horna’s use of symbols and myths greatly influenced her work. She said, Kati Horna used symbols and myths a lot. So, being in Switzerland (where she lived for several years) reminded me and opened up this interest she had in alchemy, which I have worked on in my nudes. Working is also a way of playing. I have a very playful part, I have allowed myself to enjoy
(The Day, 12/4/11).
Emma Cecilia García, the exhibition coordinator, once said that Garduño’s initial training sensitized her for what would later become her career as a photographer, in addition to providing her with the necessary elements to create spectacular compositions and scenarios in which nature, the man-beast, the female body and other objects coexist in harmony.
While studying, Garduño also had the opportunity to work with Manuel Álvarez Bravo as his assistant in darkroom printing.
▲ Paw with hand, 1993Photo taken from the site of the Palace of Fine Arts
Later in her career, Garduño worked for the Ministry of Public Education under the direction of Mariana Yampolsky. This job took her to remote rural areas of Mexico, where she sought appropriate subjects for bilingual literacy books. This experience allowed her to deeply understand her country and the life of its indigenous people, and shaped her artistic style.
According to Garduño, she works on each image until she can take out the soul
. She shared this during her exhibition Flor Garduño: The construction of the instant, at the Iturbide Palace in 2017. She believes that a photograph can be striking, but if it does not have poetry or atmosphere, it lacks soul (The Jornada, 21/6/17).
Garduño explained her approach to her art during the presentation of a pocket book that bears her name and inspired the exhibition. She said, When I can understand where the atmosphere and the poetry are, then I print it and retouch it. I am not interested in working in Photoshop, in the sense of removing one piece and adding another, but rather always proceeding as in the darkroom. There are many hours of repeating and repeating, of taking off and putting on, of clarifying and lowering levels, curves; This requires extensive darkroom experience.
Garduño has held numerous exhibitions since 1982, both in America and Europe. Many of these have been traveling exhibitions, such as Witnesses of time, which toured for over a decade.
Her jewelry design, like her photography, is detailed and technical, capturing the deep spirit of her imaginative world.
In addition to the exhibition at the Museum of the Palace of Fine Arts, which will run until June 2, the Patricia Conde gallery will display 32 works by Garduño. Eri Camara, curator of the exhibition at the Palacio de Bellas Artes Museum, will provide a text for the exhibition. Garduño herself selected the work to be displayed at the private venue located at General Juan Cano 68, San Miguel Chapultepec neighborhood.
