The Year In Pictures

Chairs, 2007 © Alejandra Laviada

The Year in Pictures
Works by Jowhara Alsaud, Alejandra Laviada, Katherine Wolkoff & Others
Danziger Projects
534 West 24th Street
New York, NY
- through February27, 2010

Please re-visit our conversation with Alejandra Laviada, by clicking here.

Alejandra Laviada Wins Descrubimiento Award

© Alejandra Laviada

Congrats to Alejandra Laviada (who shows at Danziger Projects in New York) who won this year's Descrubimiento Award at Photo Espana.
You can revisit our conversation with Alejandra by clicking here.

Alejandra Laviada in Mexico City

Alejandra Laviada
Intimidades Accesos Públicos/ Visiones Privadas
Opening Dec. 2
Palacio de Iturbide/ Palacio de Cultura Banamex
Madero 17, Centro Historico, Mexico City

American Photo's Emerging Artists 2008

Among American Photo's 2008 13 emerging photographers selected by gallery owner Debra Klomp Ching, curator and writer Susan Bright, and art director Catherine Talese are Kelli Connell, Sarah Small, Julie Blackmon, Martine Fougeron, Kathryn Parker Almanas, Olivia Arthur, Edith Maybin, and Alejandra Laviada. Alejandra had a Conversation with us recently and I had the pleasure of meeting her and seeing her work in person at her opening at Danziger Projects (it's up until Nov. 22). Congratulations!


Giraffe, 2007 © Alejandra Laviada

Alejandra Lavidia in The New York Times

Head over to the New York Times to read Penelope Green's article "Left Behind, in Their Own State of Grace" published October 23, 2009 about Alejandra Laviada - who we featured for Nymphoto Conversations on October 9, 2008.


from Photo Sculptures © Alejandra Laviada

Opening Tonight: Alejandra Laviada @ Danziger

Alejandra Laviada's Photo Sculptures opens tonight at Danziger Projects.

Alejandra Laviada
Photo Sulptures
Opening October 11, 6-8:30 pm
October 11 - November 8, 2008

Danziger Projects
521 West 26th Street
New York, New York 10001 USA

A Conversation with Alejandra Laviada

Back in February, Jörg posted about Alejandra Laviada on Conscientious. I immediately clicked over to her site and looked through the whole thing. What struck me was the simplicity of the palette, the interior spaces, and Alejandra's urge to rearrange the objects for the viewer. This shift between photography and sculpture is fascinating. I kept thinking about them, told the Nymphoto girls about them and finally contacted Alejandra for a Conversation. They made a deep impression on me and I am glad to have the opportunity to share Alejandra's work with you.

Nymphoto: Tell us a little about yourself.

Alejandra Laviada: I was born in Mexico City, where I’ve lived most of my life. I studied Painting at RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) before moving on to Photography. I think my Painting background has influenced the way I think about Photography and the process of creating an image. I like the idea of working with each material very closely, getting dirty, interacting with the space in an active way and not simply documenting it.


Juggling, 2008 © Alejandra Laviada

NP: How did you discover photography?

AL: Since I was very young I was very fond of art and photography, I always carried my camera around and took pictures of everything and everyone I could. There was a certain obsession about recording every moment in my life, and by doing that I began to develop my own style and method of taking pictures. It wasn’t until I went to art school that I began to think about what I was trying to say through these images. I started to develop a language of my own and found that photography was the best medium to express everything I was trying to say.


Giraffe, 2007 © Alejandra Laviada

NP: Where do you find inspiration?

AL: In the streets of Mexico City. It’s a very vibrant and dynamic city and I’ve always been attracted to the energy of the place. I lived in the US many years (for college and later grad school), and I think that triggered an urge to record how the city was changing in my eyes every time I came to visit.


Ladder, 2007 © Alejandra Laviada


Chairs, 2007 © Alejandra Laviada

NP: How did this project come about?

AL: My first series of photographs were mostly documentary, I was recording how certain spaces that were going to be demolished. After a while, I decided there were too many photographers doing this type of work (photographing ruinous interiors), and I wasn’t sure what made my work different from theirs. I wanted to get more involved with the spaces I was photographing, and make images that seemed more personal to me, so I began intervening the sites I photographed, moving things around to create my own images. I wanted to alter our normal perception of reality, to make ordinary objects become something else entirely. The work became a lot more physical, and the process more sculptural, which now seems like a good way of combining my interest in art and photography.


Telephones, 2007 © Alejandra Laviada

NP: What's next?

AL: I’m preparing for my first US solo-show this October at Danziger Projects, which I’m very excited about. Here’s the link: http://www.danzigerprojects.com/upcoming/

Thank you Alejandra! Alejandra's show, Photo Sculptures, opens this Saturday night at Danziger and runs from October 11 through November 8, 2008.