Marco Antonio Cruz
Friday, 29 May 2009
Apart from an irrational fear of cancer, I have other more realistic and common fears. For many of these fears, I just try to block it out of my thoughts. While they do not consume me, I know I would have a great deal of trouble coming to terms with them should any one of them ever materialise in my life. One of these fears is the loss of sight. It goes without saying that loss of vision would instantaneously end my career as a designer, but how does one even begin to learn to live in perpetual darkness?
This brings me to the photo essay titled ‘Oscuridad Habitada’ by Marco Antonio Cruz, exploring blindness in Mexico. This series recently earned him the top spot in Grange Prize:
“Marco Antonio Cruz has justly earned a prominent place in Mexican photojournalism. Current image editor of the lead independent magazine published in Mexico, and a photographer well acquainted with the urgencies of the daily press but who also authors long-range projects – Cruz understands documentary photography as the exercise of a point of view that is ethically and politically engaged, yet aspires to an aesthetic clarity. Witness to routines, events and neglects in a country marked by social injustice, Cruz has shaped a visual memory that reveals the complexities of the time in Mexico, while expanding the boundaries of our understanding of human dignity.” (Grange Prize)
“Marco Antonio Cruz studied painting in Puebla and later worked in Mexico City as Héctor García’s assistant. As he learned more about photography, Cruz was also heavily influenced by the work of Nacho Lopez. Since 1979, Cruz has been published as a photographer in major Mexican newspapers, such as La Jornada, and in magazines – most notably LIFE, which featured one of his well known images from the 1985 Mexico City earthquake. In 1984, Cruz and a group of colleagues created the photographic agency Imagenlatina. Cruz has participated in numerous individual and collective exhibitions in Mexico and the United States. He has published two books: Cafetaleros (Coffe Workers) (Imagenlatina, 1996), documenting the exploitation of coffee workers in Guatemala; and Contra la Pared (Against the Wall) (Grupo Desea, 1993).” (Grange Prize: Artist’s Bio)