GALERIE VON DÖRING - GUADALUPE RUIZ

A Conversation Between Léa Fluck and Guadalupe Ruiz

Léa Fluck: Your last photographic series, La Boca del Viento [The Mouth of the Wind], is inspired on landscapes, like natural foliage portraits of sacred sites according to the legends of indigenous cultures that inhabited the surroundings of Bogotá. With this leap into wilder and not so domestic landscapes, away from the private gardens and interior décor of living rooms and bedrooms based on the six social income-levels of your series “Bogotá D.C.” of 2002, is your work heading in a new direction?

Guadalupe Ruiz: Yes. I feel the need for new sources of inspiration. Somehow I need to “breathe” and try to surprise myself in simple things. Capturing places is more difficult, since the representation I pursue is not based on the type of people that inhabit places. That is why it is not necessary, as is usually done, to evidence the people who live there. It is a matter of simply capturing things that are made “naturally”. I am interested in being able to “photograph” a place that looks beautiful while not resembling a postcard and not representing something perfect. Just seeing it as it is. I am interested in the “mythological” side because it adds another meaning to these places. There is always a reason for the indigenous communities to have chosen them. It could be the altitude, that is, they were located closer to their gods, or because they had a lake or source of water nearby. These are fertile sites in every sense of the word.

LF: This is a significant shift since 2004 when, with your Fucking Family series, you inaugurated a period that would last several years. The members of your family in Colombia, USA or London became the usual topics of several picture series, with your father as the main character. How did you develop this idea? Have you actually finished it?

GR: No. The idea is far from finished; I simply need to pause, and then continue to capture the images of my models. A “family album” that is neither too dramatic nor too intimate, as this bores me and also bores others. The idea came to me one day after deciding to find out if anyone in my family was or had worked in the drug trade, as people always think in the case of Europe. So I began my own personal investigation and in the end the answer was, yes. There was a distant cousin of mine who had trafficked somewhat in the US and was then deported, a long time ago. But he was still far removed from the family “circle,” so I decided to focus the project on closer relatives, to do a sort of parody of what my family could or appear to be, if we were a family of drug traffickers. I used the clothing and places that my folks use. I looked for what would get them closer to the aesthetics of narco culture.

LF: So do you agree with the term “mise en scène” for your images? Models appear frozen in their poses, as if in the theater, at times almost ridiculous. I can’t always tell if this is humor or all irony. But if you tell me it is parody, that is evident to me.

GR: No. The truth is I don’t like to stage. I don’t think it’s is necessary to create images where everything is strictly calculated. What I do in general is “play” with whatever is available; of course I observe the people I intend to photograph at length, focusing on every detail. I try to “scan” them and see in them something they like to do. I like them to play a role that is close to their own personality. For example, I like my female cousins to look good and pretty in the photos … Obviously, the Latin nature of my family helps a lot, since they are always willing and don’t judge or ask why I do this or that while I work. They always let me guide them and are ready to participate in my photography projects.

LF: Your mother is always absent from the images. Can you tell me more about that?

GR: I simply think I can’t do the same pictures with her around. Every time I ask her to “pose” for me I realize her face is too kind and serene for the images I do. So I prefer her as assistant photographer. She only participated in the first series I did in Bogotá, called “La Cuarenta,” [40th] in 2000. Actually she is too natural and “mother-like” for me to make her do things. Just like her, there are many other characters in my family who don´t “inspire” me to make them into characters in my photographs. Either they are too “inexpressive” or simply don’t hold straight or don’t have a face, a “countenance” they can convey. They are nervous or have physical features that don’t fit my way of seeing things. As for my mother, the thing is I simply see her as my mother and can´t make a character out of her.

LF: But the opposite happens with your father, you made him a well-known character, if not the main figure of the family photos series…

GR: It’s very different with my father, he is really far too expressive and no one can make him be quiet. He always has something to say… So I make him act, make him express himself and he does play his part well indeed when he is “wearing a tie,” which he doesn’t need to do every day. But in the end, he shares the main role in my series with my uncle Gonzalo.

LF: LatinoCall Season 2. Why second season, where is the first season? Could you explain this title to me?

GR: The title comes from the name of the phone cards I used to buy to call my parents in Colombia. The renowned 10-franc LatinoCall. Now I use Skype. With Season 2 I tried to give a series approach to my work with my ordinary models. My father, my uncles: Gonzalo, Augusto, Alfonso and Ricardo. Cousins: María Paula, Indira, Patricia, Sandra, Luisa, Alejandra and Lina. Of course, the photos I do with my sister Ana María can’t be left aside. Then in the end I realized I’d done several “cycles” or periods with them and therefore called them Seasons, as with the TV series.

LF: While self-portraits would appear to be a logical variation of your work, there are none or very few of these. When you take photos of your folks, do you seek to show yourself through them?

GR: Not at all. I don’t use my models to show myself. I impregnate myself from what I see, and in my images I seek to tell the stories I’ve been able to hear about them. The time they have available for me and the place where they are located also need to be considered. Basically these are the parameters that most influence the photographs that can be done. I don´t like to use myself as a model, even if, modesty aside, I may be photogenic. I simply don’t think it would be interesting to make an image of myself. Of course, like all women, if I take a picture of myself I try to look presentable. But self-portraits are boring and dull, both for us and for others. The humors of the soul, I believe, are difficult to translate into images and are somewhat fake, in my view. These are staged performances and are not natural. It would have to be someone different from me who could take a picture of me, for me to feel as if I were acting. I am not interested in saying “Oh I feel beautiful!” or “Today I feel sad and maybe tomorrow I’ll feel more sexy.” In addition, making intimate diaries with your pictures is more of a woman’s thing. For me this is just bull shit.

LF: For years you have been going back to your country for two months every year. You are very creative there. Aside from the effect produced by vacations, how do you explain the increased inspiration, or how would you define the difference between your practice of photography in Europe and Colombia?

GR: I think there are more interesting things to see in Colombia. My gaze is somehow full of memories and images I have stored in my mind for a long time. Physical distance has allowed me to realize that. It is a matter of the experiences you have lived in the place where you grew up. This allows me to more easily translate the codes of the society to which I belong. Here in Switzerland I’ve always had the feeling I am lacking something, that I haven’t lived here long enough –despite the 12 years I’ve been here– to convey them. In Colombia disorder is more evident, social contrasts, chaos. Actually it is a kind of notion of being a “foreigner” that I developed in the opposite direction. Inspiration would also come if I were to take pictures in a country other than Switzerland. The truth is I don’t know why I “freeze” when working in relation to this country, where I am currently living, but which is so difficult for me to “feel” photographically.

LF: You are absolutely against Latin ghettos and systematic comparisons that can be made of your work against this Latin American identity, but on the other hand, this is where you draw inspiration. Is [your] resistance against having neither a Latin nor a European culture a strategy or a necessity?

GR: I don’t want to give people the image they want to see. They have never been in Colombia, but believe we Latins are all the same. That we like salsa and are always partying and don´t work. Most of all, that it is dangerous “over there,” that drugs are everywhere, the FARC, Ingrid and all those people forgotten in the middle of the jungle… It’s like in US films, when they show the bad guys, the bandits in Bogotá, and then go and shoot the film in a lost little village in Mexico. It is a cliché. On the contrary, I don’t identify with Latin culture at all, since it is not enough for me. Living here in Switzerland has somehow impregnated my made in Colombia roots. It is that mix, which is not something commonplace, that what I am emerges from: someone who is half lost, who doesn’t feel neither truly Swiss nor fully Colombian, for the stereotype says we are all Latin, jolly latino girls.

I realize I’m not the only who feels “confused” when going abroad. It is one of those problems Europe and the US have experienced for a long time, because, seen from here [Switzerland], no one is going to move to Colombia or Latin America since nothing is fixed or safe over there. As graffiti I once saw in the Swiss city of Fribourg put it, “It is not the country I miss, it is my parents.” In part my work feeds on this personal experience. A translation of what it means to have my head here and my heart over there. My intention is to tell stories, my own version of the facts, places and people. For me ghettos are a symptom of insecurity, isolation, and hinder your progress when you are abroad. Besides, being Colombian is not enough to make you my friend. And if I want to eat something typical, talk for hours about how good I feel or how the mentality in my country is different, I prefer to do it directly in the place.

LF: ¿How do you see your position as an artist in the Swiss art system?

GR: It is difficult to earn a place within the system. In this country people have the resources to make and produce good things. That’s why I have to work harder, to strike a kind of financial balance that can free my mind so I can resolutely continue with my work, because, in spite of everything, I somehow exist in the Swiss artistic scenario. Other issues to consider are: luck, connections n the medium, contacts and the good “cards” you have in your hand. Something less tangible and concrete at times, but necessary to continue in the system. In any case, I plan to continue being the same person and reach farther, and simply live and be satisfied with what I do.

LF: You have a hard side of perseverance, the “Don’t cry, work!” notion. A small soldier courageously carrying 20 kg of materials through a lost village in the middle of a winter night in Zürich. This has always impressed me about you. That side of you that tells you: “Go on, get up or die.”

GR: Yes. I think I am a little like my worse friend or my best enemy. I resemble teenagers who “form scars” if something is not right. I believe I am much too critical and “rational.” I am carrying a load of responsibility weighing at least 45 kilos! Above all, I think it is a luxury to just take photographs and live and think about only that. Sometimes, I know it, I am too realistic.

LF: Yes. You feel a kind of austerity or punishment. But on the other hand your images usually have a sexy dimension, with beautiful women posing provocatively, with femme fatale looks … Why did you choose this style of female images of greater connotation?

GR: I have always been told this, but it is something I don’t even remotely wish to evidence in my photos. I simply tell my cousins to “show” a little in order to “sell.” And since in general all women who want to advance in the medium in Colombia have to pose at least once, for free, semi-naked or naked, for a magazine called SOHO, I do the same thing, but with less trash. I don´t know why people always look for sex in images. They invent it themselves. I am not interested in that. The wild interpretations made of simple poses make me laugh. On the other hand I obviously hate to take pictures of children, the elderly and pregnant women. I don’t like the sentimental side these images can evoke.

LF: I think colors are always important in your photographs. Apart from talent and good handling of the technique, what other treatment do you give them?

GR: Once again, I think my technique is defined as the “photographic accident.” In other words, there is a good deal of randomness that makes things work and imparts my style, for I am far from being a professional in photographic techniques. With too much information, I feel the imperfect sense of my images and the “grain” they have is nullified. I see in color. Black and white is much more difficult for me to see, and creates a different set of atmospheres and settings, although I don’t totally discard it. There is also a part of my work I translate better with my medium format Mamiya RB than if I were to use a digital format. For me that is still another medium and gives me the impression of not letting you see or control anything. It is a faster and a different way to produce. Anyway I don’t think it’s just a matter of the photographer and the type of camera. On the contrary, there is always a moment between the time when you press the shutter and when the photo is taken. For me this is what gives photographs a [particular] touch. When you manage everything, nothing is free and everything is more rigid and boring.

LF: Regarding style, do you believe your work allows it to be recognized?

GR: Yes, on the long run, I always seek the same settings. I am interested in seeing proud, strong and beautiful people. They must not appear costumed or transformed into something they are not; on the contrary, I always look in their closets to find their best outfits. I like to see them shining in front of the camera, place them in value. The sites I prefer for my photos are usually very basic and simple decoration-wise.

LF: What was your first photograph?

I actually don´t remember well. I started to touch a camera actually here at the ECAL [University of Art and Design – Lausanne]. Before I did mostly drawings, since I was interested in the idea of illustrating children’s stories and graphic design. If I remember correctly, my first photo must have been something silly. In any case it was not a self-portrait or a work about anything special, but rather one of those topics they give you in art school. It was surely black-and-white and a basic exercise to learn photography techniques.

LF: Shirana Shahbazi says you have a very peculiar photographic eye. She won the City Bank Prize with a photographic series of Iran. Then she radically changed subject and made more sober and colder images of Western culture: portraits, still lifes. In what way are you influenced by her work, which also explores identity issues and fully addresses North-South issues, in her case East-West issues?

GR: I adore Shirana, I admire her, she seems honest as an artist and, despite her fame, we have always had a normal and simple relationship. Beyond this it is clear to me that everything she does is in another level, what I call the “big leagues,” like the A, B, C… in soccer (in Switzerland). In any case, better than anyone else she understands the situation of having far away origins and coming to live here without having to join the ghettos. Her work is even more “charged,” for there is an enormous difference between East and West. I am interested in what she does, for she has a valuable work, with content. In addition, every time she has a show there is something that surprises me. Obviously she has the means, the connections, the money to undertake large projects, but above all she has the drive and every time she goes farther with her topics. I like the idea of being able to recognize her work always. It is always clear, concise and reflects her identity.

LF: She is also interested in showing her photographs in strong exhibitions that ultimately look like installations. For your show at the Photography Centre in Geneva your installation was done in collaboration with graphic designer Regis Tossetti. It allowed the walls to be seen as pages of a book, with the titles of the works placed in large letters on the wall-pages. If I remember well, for your graduation work in Zürich in 2006 you placed a book on a pedestal, as is done with sculptures in museums. Is this reference to books inspired by your former desire to become a graphic designer? ¿How do you think photographs should be shown, considering their changing, inconstant and mobile nature?

GR: Yes, I believe it is correct to explore places in a more graphic manner. Setting the images on a page seems fair to me, knowing that what I attempt is to tell my stories. What interests me the most is being able to make people recall something that they saw in an exhibition, whether it’s an image, a title, the color of the walls … in other words, to stimulate at least one of their senses. A space is like a window display in which to show oneself. On the other hand, working with graphic designers helps me reflect in a different way and not see the photographs exclusively.

LF: You never frame your photos and usually have your prints be mounted on aluminum. Is this to avoid a filter between the image and the viewer or is it for financial reasons?

GR: It is simply a financial matter. But, anyway, I like the idea of being able to make a poster, a print, to turn my icons into images. I like mounting on aluminum because it gives a clean appearance. In Colombia I’ve had the opportunity of mounting my photos on wood, the popular [Colombian] retablo and it works well for certain images. In addition, it gives the impression they are objects since they are placed over a wooden frame. The problem is that this technique is unknown in Switzerland. But in any case I think that simple things look better, and that’s why I am an addict of what in French is called franc bord, that is, where you can see the full image with no margins.

LF: In 2007 you made your first video, Air Break. It is a short documentary about your uncle Gonzalo Cifuentes, a former airplane pilot who dreams of opening a gallery in his apartment to show his own works. These are very colorful paintings of various types of airplanes. What motivated you to do this?

GR: I wanted to let one of my star models speak. Gonzalo, the “anti-model,” as he defines himself: “I am skinny, bald, but what happens is, my gaze is very honest…” In addition, he always has a thousand stories to tell about his airplanes, and every time I visit his home he has changed something. It may be the color of the walls, the color of the background of the paintings, the materials on which he paints... Just like with him, I would like to make a series of sketches with my usual characters. Something simple that somehow provides a general view of each one of them. I want them to tell me a really interesting story that ultimately has no heads or tails. This gives more clues to those who are interested in my work and they can collect more information and images, so they think that in the end everything has a certain logic and is real. If pictures are worth a thousand words, videos are worth much more!

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On-line interview conducted between April 25 and 27, 2008 by Léa Fluck, assistant curator of the Swiss Cultural Centre in Paris.