Alejandro Cartagena

Alejandro Cartagena (born 1977) is a Dominican Republic-born Mexican photographer. ^[1] His work is held in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, ^[2] Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, ^[3] San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, ^[1] and Santa Barbara Museum of Art. ^[4] Cartagena has been shortlisted for the 2021 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize. ^[5]

Work

Cartagena is interested in the "effects of suburban sprawl on population growth and the environment in his home city" of Monterrey, Mexico. For Carpoolers (2014) he photographed construction workers from above, travelling to work along Mexican Federal Highway 85 in the back of their contractors' trucks, in 2011. Highway 85 links the city centre and its wealthier parts with the surrounding suburban sprawl. ^[6]

Publications

Books of work by Cartagena

• Suburbia Mexicana. Daylight/Photolucida, 2010. ISBN   9780983231608. With an introduction by Karen Irvine, an essay by Gerardo Montiel Klint and a transcript of an interview by Lisa Uddin. Edition of 2000 copies. ^[7]
• Carpoolers. Self-published, 2014. ^{[8] [9] [10]}
• Before the War. Self-published, 2015. Edition of 200 copies.
• Headshots. Self-published, 2015.
• Santa Barbara Return Jobs Back to US. Skinnerboox, 2016. ISBN   9788894134124. With an essay by Jonathan Blaustein. Edition of 500 copies. ^{[11] [12]}
• Rivers of Power. Newwer, 2016. ISBN   9780996669719. Edition of 500 copies.
• A Guide to Infrastructure and Corruption. Velvet Cell, 2017. ISBN   978-1-908889-53-9. Edition of 500 copies.
• Santa Barbara Shame on US. Skinnerboox, 2017. ISBN   978-88-94895-05-6. With an essay by Blaustein. Edition of 500 copies. ^[13]
• A Small Guide to Homeownership: Case Study: Mexico. Velvet Cell 2020. With essays by Fernando Gallegos and Cartagena. First edition, first printing. First edition, second printing edition of 600 copies. ^{[7] [14]}
• Santa Barbara Save US. Skinnerboox, 2020. ISBN   978-88-94895-41-4. With an essay by Blaustein. Edition of 800 copies.
• Suburban Bus. Velvet Cell, 2021. Edition of 500 copies. ISBN   978-1-908889-84-3.

Other publications by Cartagena

• We Love Our Employees. Mexico City: Gato Negro 2019. Photographs by Alberto Flores Varela. ^[15]
• Insurrection Nation. Studio Cartagena, 2021. Magazine. ^[16]

Awards

• 2021: Shortlisted, Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize, London for Centralia; along with Poulomi Basu, Cao Fei, and Zineb Sedira ^{[17] [18] [19]}

Collections

Cartagena's work is held in the following permanent collections:

• San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco: 7 prints (as of July 2021) ^[1]
• Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago: 8 prints (as of July 2021) ^[2]
• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: 3 prints (as of July 2021) ^[3]
• Santa Barbara Museum of Art: 2 prints (as of July 2021) ^[4]

References

1. "Cartagena, Alejandro". SFMOMA. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
2. "Museum of Contemporary Photography". www.mocp.org. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
3. "Works | Alejandro Cartagena | People | the MFAH Collections".
4. "Works - Alejandro CARTAGENA - Artists - eMuseum". collections.sbma.net. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
5. O'Hagan, Sean (10 November 2020). "This year's Deutsche Börse prize shortlist is fascinating – but is it photography?". The Guardian. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
6. Booth, Hannah (24 February 2012). "The big picture: Car Poolers, by Alejandro Cartagena". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2021-07-14.
7. "What Happens When the American Dream of Homeownership Reaches Mexico?". Aperture. 31 March 2020. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
8. "Time Picks the Best Photobooks of 2014". Time. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
9. Rosenberg, David (13 February 2013). "Spying on Mexico's Carpoolers". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
10. McCann, Matt (27 June 2012). "Piling in a Flatbed to Get By in the Suburbs". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
11. "Alejandro Cartagena". 1000wordsmag.com. 29 June 2016. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
12. Feuerhelm, Brad (7 September 2016). "Alejandro Cartagena: Cultural Picture Coding and Collapse". americansuburbx.com. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
13. MacLennan, Gloria Crespo (12 January 2018). "Los mejores libros de fotografía de 2017". El País. Madrid. ISSN   1134-6582 . Retrieved 2021-07-14.
14. "Alejandro Cartagena documents the suburbanisation of northern Mexico and the fraught dream of homeownership". British Journal of Photography. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
15. "Alejandro Cartagena — We Love Our Employees". Tique. 31 July 2020. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
16. "Photography, Surveillance, and Protest". New Orleans Museum of Art. 29 June 2021. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
17. "The 2021 Deutsche Börse Photography prize sheds light on global issues" . The Independent. 28 June 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-07-14. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
18. "The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2021". The Times . Retrieved 2021-07-14.
19. Ponsford, Matthew (25 June 2021). "Prestigious photo prize honors docu-fiction on India's hidden war". CNN. Retrieved 2021-07-14.

External links

• Official website