Pasaco, 1996 — Luis Corzo. Published by Kult Books.
I first heard of Luis's story before seeing the book. I have been teaching and visiting Guatemala for years. This was the first time in my life that I traveled with friends who carried guns for protection. I tell this part as this can create a bit of context for the harshness of violence and terror lived in some Latin American cities, including my hometown in Mexico. This book is outstanding on many levels. The strength to revisit a kidnapping, the courage to face your captures, and the wit to build all that into a sophisticated book with great design is commendable. This is a story that, for many of us in Latin America, is too close to home. We need more stories to be told of things that will never be part of our countries' official history books.
Alejandro Cartagena, Mexican (b. 1977, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) lives and works in Monterrey, Mexico. His projects employ landscape and portraiture as a means to examine social, urban, and environmental issues. He is also the co-founder of Los Sumergidos publishing house and Fellowship Photos, where he works to publish work from Latin American artists and projects of artists considering the intersection of photography, video, and generative art.