This is a body of new photographic works made in response to the writings and photographs of the Mexican writer Juan Rulfo. Although not widely known in the UK, Rulfo is considered by many to be among the greatest literary innovators to emerge from Latin America. Susan Sontag in her forward to the 1994 re-edition of his novel ‘Pedro Paramo’ (1955) describes it as "one of the masterpieces of 20th-century world literature”. Gabriel Garcia Marquez is understood to have known the whole book by heart and as a tribute included one sentence of it in One Hundred Years of Solitude. (1967)
What is less well known about Rulfo is his large photographic archive made during the 1940’s and 1950s. Working exclusively in black and white, he travelled through the landscape of Mexico creating a body of photographic work which builds strong connections to his writing. 2017 marked the centenary since his birth and I undertook a project which focused specifically on his photographic works and used these to guide me on a journey through the landscape of Northern Mexico in order to make new work.
The aim of this project was to focus my research around three main questions:
• How does the interweaving of time, so prevalent in the writing of Juan Rulfo manifest in his photographic works, and are the merits of the photographs dependent on the relationship to his writing or do they operate as independent visual artworks?
• How do the landscapes which shaped the narratives of Juan Rulfo impact me as an artist?
• What can the photographs of Rulfo contribute to the broader discussions and practice around contemporary landscape photography?
Accompanying me on the journey was the Mexican writer Roberto Bravo who not only has in-depth knowledge about the life and work of Rulfo, also has the additional insight of having met him on several occasions. His literary and specialist knowledge on the work of Rulfo, his language skills during research, his local knowledge and orientation skills during the journey were all essential components of our working process.
