AZ13

‘Once upon a time there was a pile of photographs living in envelopes and boxes.
Some of them were not known to each other.
Others did not remember how they got there.
All of them had in common an indissoluble bond with their owner.
One day they decided to ask for an explanation of their existence and, from their impassive dumbness, rose up in rebellion.
And it was such their stifled shout, they made themselves heard.’

AZ13 is the result of a purely autobiographical work. Photography has been a constant in my family, and it was through it that I got to know my ancestors and a great part of my -until now- unknown familiar history.

The life rhythm of my childhood caused in me a strong uprooting feeling in the physical and from the spiritual level: Not-being results in no-bonds. Of late, I needed to draw up internal and externally my story to manage, from a concrete place, to attain an all-embracing projection towards future.

Mariana Méndez / October, 2000
[abstract from the exhibition catalogue]