(Read the English version here)
Twenty-five years ago, something troubled Argentine photographer Andy Goldstein. His work “People at Home” left him with a vivid image of the conditions in which the residents of informal settlements lived. How could he enter their world and respect their environment? How could he build a sincere relationship with the people he sought to portray? These questions remained fresh in his mind—so fresh, in fact, that his first contact with TECHO reignited them, leading to the project “Living on the Land.”
“‘I carried out the work based on a framework that I had been carefully building over those 25 years,’ explains the photographer in an interview following the launch of the project’s exhibition in Argentina, in collaboration with the organization, to raise awareness about the situation faced by millions of families in Latin America.”
From the invitation, the path was clear: to document settlements in 14 countries across the continent. Stops in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and the Dominican Republic were part of the project, which found in its name the most fitting label to capture this experience.
The exhibition—and the photographer’s journey alongside TECHO—is distilled into nearly 60 images that, according to the artist, demonstrate that patterns of poverty recur in many countries and are not a coincidence. “The systematic repetition of poverty in nearly 30 settlements across 14 countries—the fact that it plays out exactly the same way in different places—makes you feel that it’s not a coincidence; it’s not that the people there are poor because they choose to be,” he explains.
Did you have any preconceptions about the settlements?
No preconceptions , but I did have a suspicion that was confirmed—one related to that common stereotype held by the self-righteous middle and upper-middle classes of the day, that everything bad is concentrated in a settlement. But the truth is, what I actually encountered was a friendly, collaborative, and family-like atmosphere. I felt much more comfortable there than at the entrance to a luxury hotel on the outskirts of Bogotá, where you suddenly feel much more on edge—the sense of danger is greater.
Living on the Land in Latin America
In addition to the exhibition, which has already been shown in Mexicoand Colombia, it will be on view through June 2 in Buenos Aires (photo on the left), as part of its tour of various locations where the photographs were taken.
The exhibition features a selection of large-scale images from his journey, in which Andy Goldstein employed various techniques andtook advantage of digital photography to present a broad panorama—a sort of photographic mosaic composed of small pieces. “What I was able to capture was a wealth of information all on the same hierarchical level; there’s nothing that’s in focus or out of focus. In the photo, you can easily see the context in which they are immersed, and I like to think of it that way. It’s an important anthropological and sociological document, regardless of whether the photos are good or bad, ” he said.
Want to see more? Check out the article Negro&White wrote about the exhibitionand a volunteer's opinion piece on the show.
Twenty-five years ago, Argentine photographer Andy Goldstein was feeling uneasy about something. His work “Gente en su casa” (People in Their Homes) left him with a vivid picture of the living conditions of slum residents. How could he enter this environment while respecting it? How could he build a genuine relationship with the people he wanted to portray? These were questions he kept asking himself, and they resurfaced when he first came into contact with TECHO. Later, these questions would find concrete expression in the project “Vivir en la Tierra” (Living on the Earth).
“I was working on a pattern that has been carefully constructed over the past 25 years,” the photographer explains in an interview at the opening of the exhibition on the project with TECHO Argentina, which was organized to shed light on the living conditions of millions of families in Latin America.
The invitation set a clear course: to document slums in 14 countries across the continent. The stops in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and the Dominican Republic were all part of the project, which later found a name that would do justice to the experience.
The exhibition, and the photographer’s journey with TECHO, was condensed into some 60 images that, according to the artist, show how patterns of poverty repeat themselves in many countries and that this is no coincidence. “The systematic repetition across nearly 30 slums in 14 countries—poverty repeating itself in exactly the same way in different places—makes you realize it’s not an accident; it’s not as if the workers are poor by choice,” he explains.
Did you have any negative preconceptions about the slums?
Not preconceptions, but a suspicion that was confirmed—and that needs to be seen in the context of the well-wishers, the comfortable middle classes, for whom all evil is concentrated in a slum. And the truth is that what I found there was friendly, collaborative, and familiar. I felt much more comfortable there than when knocking on the gates of a luxury hotel in Bogotá, where one feels much more persecuted, more at risk.
Living on Earth in Latin America
In addition, the exhibition has already been shown in Mexico and Colombia, and is now on view in Buenos Aires through June 2 (photo at left) as part of its tour of the various locations where the photos were taken.
The exhibition features a selection of large-format images from the journey, in which Andy Goldstein employed various techniques and took full advantage of advances in digital photography to create panoramic images—a type of photographic mosaic designed for small spaces. “I wanted to capture a wealth of information on the same hierarchical level; nothing is in or out of focus. In the photos, you can easily see the context in which they are set, and I like to think of them this way— as important anthropological or sociological documents, rather than simply as good or bad photos, ” he says.