LFI 01/2012 – Portfolio Martin Herrera Soler: Discarded (page 1).  

It is an exceptional way to start 2012, with the publication of the recent Peñarol project on the printed version of the LFI – Leica Fotografie International January 2012 issue (01/2012).  I have not gotten my hands on the printed version yet, but I do have the digital PDF outline and what I can see on the current issue preview on the LFI website.  In one word, exciting!

Peñarol is a project we co-authored with Diego Vidart.  It was originally conceived as a proof of concept to test how we could worked together, and from this adventure the Dokumental collective was born.  Part of this project was shot by me using a Leica M rangefinder (M8 and M9), and that’s what got published on the magazine.  The project it’s broader, and you can read the statement and view the video in here.   You can also see the full project edit (71 images) in this gallery.

As I continue to navigate the transition from the corporate world to spending more and more time doing documentary photography, this publication is for me a very significant milestone, and for it I am profoundly grateful.  I am thankful to Diego for all his support and the many teachings he has shared with me, to LFI for publishing the work, to all that have in many ways supported me along the way, and to myself for staying focused since I first picked up a camera in 2004.

LFI has been around my house for many years.  My mom still holds a few issues as far back as 06/1979.  It looked very different then than it does now (I will share both when I get my printed copy).  To have my work on the same magazines that have been around for that long is an awesome and rewarding experience.  If you are interested on this month’s issue, which happens to have an article on Bruce Gilden’s work in Haiti (Portfolio Bruce Gilden: Where The Spirit Lives), you car order it here. I certainly recommend it

I look forward to this new year…  Thanks for visiting!  m.

LFI 01/2012 – Portfolio Martin Herrera Soler: Discarded (page 2).   

LFI 01/2012 – Portfolio Martin Herrera Soler: Discarded (page 3).  

 LFI 01/2012 – Portfolio Martin Herrera Soler: Discarded (page 4).  

 LFI 01/2012 – Portfolio Martin Herrera Soler: Discarded (page 5).  

 LFI 01/2012 – Portfolio Martin Herrera Soler: Discarded (page 6).  

Gallery with the complete edit of images from the project, shot both by Diego Vidart and Martin Herrera.  For the project statement check here.

Escobero (stick holder) | Julio César Gonzalez | Empleado Dirección General de Registros (municipal employee)

For the spanish version of the project website including audio interviews, please check here.  English version of the website and audio interviews to be available soon.

Three centuries ago the first African-descendants arrived in Uruguay. The harsh conditions of their daily life are known; only one day per year, on the celebration of the llamadas (calling) were they allowed to honor and celebrate their cultural roots. Is it possible that today, as it happened so many years ago, we are reminded of the importance and influence of the African community in our society only this day? 364plus1 is a project that suggests a look into the space of the African-Uruguayan community at the beginning of the XXI century. Using the known symbols of the candombe as a starting point, which for many is their only contact with this community, 364plus1 proposes to widen the look beyond the obvious and question who is the person behind the character.  Martin | Daniel.  

I was working for the IT industry when left Uruguay. During the course of the ten years I was abroad, I became a photographer. In March 2008 I decided to return, in part moved by the notion that I could rediscover my country, now from the perspective of a photographer and through the lens of my camera.

Upon my arrival, the first thing that caught my attention was candombe (a native Uruguayan drumming rhythm). Daniel introduced me to it. The llamadas parade it’s a colorful, loud and crowded event that takes place the first Thursday and Friday of February.  At first I was drawn by the loud sounds, the highly produced dancers and the energy of the thousands of people that lineup on the side of the Isla de Flores street all throughout Barrio Sur and Palermo neighborhoods.

But as I got to photograph more of it, I became interested on how this widely adopted musical style and popular expression relates to our African-descendant community. In fact I started to ask myself, who are these people? Why is it that I know so little about them? How are their lives today and has over two hundred year improved in any way, shape or form their lives and opportunities?

All around Montevideo, people of all races play the drums to the rhythm of candombe. And yet, for many of us, our relationship to the African-descent community is circumscribed to one day per year, to that day in which they parade the narrow street of Isla de Flores in the celebration of llamadas. For those of us, all we know about this community is limited to the traditional symbols that define this celebration.

Photo: Mamá Vieja | Leopoldina Barboza | Empleada Doméstica (pensionista).  By: Martin Herrera Soler. 

So the question stands. Who are they and what are their lives like? 364plus1 is then an attempt to shed some light into the Afro-Uruguayan community, to give them a voice and to share their lives the rest of the 364 days of the year.

The inner workings of the show…

The show consists of four large photographic portraits (1.65mts x 1.10mts) of four emblematic African-descendants who represent four of the traditional characters of candombe. A tocador – ‘drummer’ (Alfonso Pintos), a gramillero – ‘medicine man’ (Jaime Esquivel), an escobero – ‘stick holder’ (Julio César González, also known as Gonzalito) and a mama vieja – ‘old mother’ (Leopoldina Barboza, better known as Aunt Dina).

Each one was photographed in their own space, surrounded by their belongings, thus representing their everyday life (or, in other words, their life as it is the 364 days of the year that is not the one day of celebration).  This space was intervened, introducing an object that is a traditional symbol of candombe (representing what most of us experience as the whole of this community).  For example, in the case of Alfonso, the drumming stick he uses to play the drum.

‘Drumming stick’, example of one of the four cards available to the viewer when visiting the show.

When the viewer arrives to the show he finds four small cards, and when confronted with the photograph he notices that a piece of each it is missing, exactly the same piece that the viewer is holding in his hand.  This small portion of the photograph, which contains the candombe symbol, represents only one of the 365 days of the year; it represents the llamadas day, and is only a miniscule aspect of the life of these persons.

Photo: Drummer | César Alfonso Pintos | Municipal CIty Hall worker (retired).  Example of one of the intervened photographs in order to highlight ‘the known’, or what is missing in the photo (symbol of candombe) and what is unknown to us about this community.

The portrait was taken in such a way that, once printed in the exhibited, such object occupies 1/365th of the area of the whole photograph. The cards that are offered at the show occupy, then, the equivalent to one day in the life of this person, and if 365 cards of that size were placed on the photo they would cover the totality of it.

Photo: Gramillero | Jaime Esquivel | Empleado Municipal, Escritor y Compositor.  By: Martin Herrera Soler. 

Punto de Encuentro (place of gathering) gallery in Montevideo, Uruguay. 

Facing the work in this way, it becomes evident how restricted is, for many of us, our knowledge of the African-Uruguayan collective. Inevitably, the questions rush to our consciousness.  Many of the answers to these questions are found in the details of the photos.  And they are powerfully complemented by the excerpts of audio of the interviews recorded with each one. The audio gives these people and their stories a voice, and it is through the four interviews that we can enhance our comprehension and reach a wider view of the reality of this collective.

364plus1.  Observing the image and listening to the audio interview.  

Image gallery with the four characters and the four candombe symbols.

Photo: Chair – Carboneras.  By: Martin Herrera Soler. 

Continuing the work of Peñarol, Diego, my partner at Dokumental and I set ourselves to document las ‘carboneras‘.  This is a quite large piece of land where once the British would make gas out of coal.  It’s right on the coast of downtown Montevideo, overseeing the Rio de la Plata (River Plate) in perhaps one of the most privileged spots in all the rambla.  It was abandoned many years ago, and it’s a surreal place filled with dormant stories.  Diego has started to approach the people that used to work in this location and we are in the midsts of conceptualizing what looks like the collective’s next documentary essay.

In the meantime we created some stills and video to play with the location.  It’s a place marked by the passage of time, and the more I engage with them, the more I like these locations.  I love uncovering the stories in the rundown architecture and the details left behind by the last to inhabit this place.  Check out the video Diego put together.

Photography and video: Diego Vidart and Martin Herrera.  Production: Diego Vidart. 

Photo: W.  Union Square, New York.  By: Martin Herrera Soler. 

Las August we visited New York.  It was perhaps one of the best vacations Clara and I have had.  I struggled before on ho to balance vacations and couple’s time with photography.  Of course I always had my camera with me, but before getting there I thought I could perhaps conceptualize and make a project, or right and extensive and dedicated travelogue of my trip.  It turns out I did none.  I relaxed and took a fair amount of pictured but in a totally random and non purposeful way.  Perhaps the fact that this year I did not work for the corporate world and has been spent as a full time photographer, made me reconsider  what my vacations needed to be?  In any case, this image was created with my iPhone which I found a wonderful camera to have with me while traveling.  It’s as discreet as it gets, and produces wonderful images that you can post process and share right from the phone.  Not a Leica by any stretch of the imagination, but for sure has its place in my photographic life.

Photo: Llamadas del Bicentenario.  Vedette from Sarabanda.  By: Martin Herrera Soler.

Photo: Guatemala faces many social problems and is among the ten poorest countries in Latin America. The distribution of income remains highly unequal with more than half of the population below the national poverty line. Indigenous people strive to make a living and provide for their families. Women in Antigua, Guatemala, resort to micro-lending to develop their business selling hand made craft, which are both a source of income and a way to preserve their culture and heritage from generation to generation.  By: Martin Herrera Soler.

En marzo del 2010 el joven artista uruguayo-sueco, Esko Tikanmäki, inauguraría en la galería Signal de Mälmo, la muestra “Journal of a Portrait”, experimento multimediático dedicado a la figura de Matti Tikanmäki, su padre, fallecido en 2006.  Tres días antes de la apertura Esko deja una vieja valija de cuero en el depósito de la galería; luego desaparece y dos días después le avisa al curador de la galería que su muestra se debe suspender, sin más explicaciones.

Meses más tarde, el fotógrafo uruguayo Diego Vidart se conecta con Esko y le propone apropiarse de ese material para crear la muestra, no ya en Malmö, sino en Montevideo.  En la misma época la artista y curadora Veronica Cordeiro invita a Vidart y a otro fotógrafo uruguayo, Martín Herrera, a participar en un proyecto conjunto en el marco de Fotograma 2011.  Así es que nace Diario de un retrato.  Más adelante se integran al proyecto el escritor galés Des Barry y el fotógrafo noruego Kristian Helgesen.

Avanzamos en el tiempo y es así como el próximo miércoles 21 de Septiembre en la galería El Subte, y en el marco del inicio de Fotograma 2011, se inaugura la muestra Diario de un Retrato, un proyecto en progreso que, a partir de la apropiación de todo el contenido material y conceptual desarrollado por otro artista, pretende abrir y ampliar el debate sobre el papel de la fotografía en la historia del retrato.  Quedan todos invitados.  Por más información sobre el proyecto pueden ver  el blog diario de un retrato.

[English Version]

Date: September 21st, in the El Subte gallery in Montevideo.

In march 2010, the young uruguayan-swedish artist, Esko Tikanmäki would inaugurate the show “Journal of a Portrait” in the Signal Gallery in Mälmo, a multimedia experiment devoted to the figure of Matti Tikanmäki, his father, deceased in 2006.  Three days before the opening, Esko drops an old leather luggage in the storage room of the gallery; he later vanishes and two days after reappears to communicates to the curator of the gallery that his show must be suspended, with no further explanation.

Months after this, the uruguayan photographer Diego Vidart connects with Esko and proposes to appropriate all the materials to create the show, not in Malmö, but in Montevideo instead.  At the same time the artist and curator Veronica Cordeiro invites Vidart and another uruguayan photographer, Martin Herrera, to participate on a collaborative project in the context of Fotograma 2011.  This is the birth of Diario de un Retrato (our version of Journal of a Portrait).  Later the welsh writer Des Barry and the  norwegian photographer Kristian Helgesen join and collaborate on the project.

Move forward in time and this is how next wednesday, September 21st in El Subte Gallery, and in the context of the launch of Fotograma 2011, we are having the inauguration of the show Diario de un Retrato, a project that by appropriating all the contents and conceptual creation of another artist, intends to open and broaden the debate about the role of photography in the history of portraiture .  You are all invited.  For further information about the project, you can check the blog diario de un retrato.

Hoy es un día espectacular.  Es como si el de arriba fuese fanático del fútbol.  En medio de un invierno crudo, hoy tenemos sol y calor para conmemorar la final de la Copa America 2011.  Hoy se enfrentan Paraguay y Uruguay.  A lo largo del paseo de KC (nuestro labrador chocolate) por el Parque Roosevelt entrevisté y le hice un retrato a cada persona que me crucé.  Los augurios son positivos.  Cierto que la muestra no es representativa, pero yo creo que ganamos igual.  Al menos esa es mi esperanza.  Y al final del día, sea cual sea el resultado, seguro habrá un impacto positivo.  Al menos algunas personas más en el mundo descubrirán que Uruguay y Paraguay no son el mismo país!

Qué resultado esperan ustedes?  Cuál es tu predicción?

Photo: Richard.  Uruguay 3 – Paraguay 1.  By: Martin Herrera Soler.

Photo: Isabelino Machado.  Uruguay 3 – Paraguay 1.  By: Martin Herrera Soler.

Photo: Marco, Magela y Carmen.  Uruguay 2- Paraguay 0.  By: Martin Herrera Soler.

Photo: Luca y Hugo.  Sin preddiciones | no predictions.  By: Martin Herrera Soler.

Photo: Nico Arnicho tocando en el evento Super Plugged en el Solís.  Imperdible!  By: Martin Herrera Soler.

Hace varios meses atrás me hicieron llegar un link a un video de Superplugged de Nico Arnicho en You Tube.  Desde el momento que lo vi, no sólo quedé fascinado, sino que me dispuse a comprar entradas para el concierto apenas salieran.  Así es que hace ya más de un mes tenía las entradas para ir a verlo en el Solis con varios amigos.  Nunca hubiese imaginado que justo coincidiría con el partido de cuartos de final de Copa America entre Uruguay y Argentina.  Así y todo nos dispusimos a ir con una rara sensación de dejar de lado el partido.

El espectáculo es simplemente sensacional.  Nico es increíblemente talentoso.  Con un fuerte foco en la percusión, este maestro le saca sonido basicamente a cualquier cosa, y lo hace con una clase y sofisticación inimaginable.  La premisa del show es que contrario al concepto de los populares ‘unplugged’ o acústicos de las bandas de rock, Nico arma un show sólo, con una serie de instrumentos todos ellos ‘super-conectados’, y va creando la canción durante el transcurso del show, grabando en vivo con sus pedaleras la base acústica, para después ir sumando múltiples voces y nuevos instrumentos en una mezcla perfecta.  Si lo que hace musicalmente no deja de sorprender, el poder recordar cuál de los multiples pedales o botones debe apretar es en si mismo un logro magistral.

En pocas palabras, no se lo pierdan.  Cuando esté de gira por el mundo se lamentarán de no haberlo visto en casa en el espectacular Solís.  Entradas en venta en Red UTS.  Disfuten!