Los Sumergidos Book by Alejandro Cartagena, Carlos Loret de Mola, Juan Madrid, Freddy Martinez, Fernando Gallegos. Edition of 500. Published by Los Sumergidos 2019
In Los Sumergidos the five authors construct the life of Teresa (1991-2063) and her disappearance in Catskill NY through a series of images, text, and interviews. The book asks us to question how stories can be constructed through a “documentary” style of images and texts. In the end, the book is a reflection of a need to think of photographs as constructions, not as documents. The photographs and interviews were taken in Valle de Bravo and Ojinaga, Mexico, as well as Presidio, Texas; Catskill, New York and New York City.
They are places Teresa lived in or where she was seen. It is unsure whether she ever made it to New York. In the end, we have abandoned what follows as detective guesswork. No person photographed can ever claim to be truly seen. The photographs have been included to show what Teresa might have been and to offer some sense of why she left Valle de Bravo all those years ago.
Reviews
“The smart thing about Los Sumergidos is the way these images of nights, roads, red lights, and tired faces link to the images we already have in our heads. And then we project characters (Teresa, her mother Luisa, her absent father) and narratives onto the people we see and the story takes shape. The introductory text helps with this (the journal text less so) as do the multiple narrative strands. All things are possible in Los Sumergidos for Teresa, it’s just that some things are more possible than others. And that’s what the pictures tell us.” Colin Pantall for the Photogorphic Museum of Humanity
More Information about the Author and Studio Cartagena
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