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photographic journal Editor Charles Biasiny'Rivera Associate Editor Betty Wilde Production Editor Miriam Romais Designer/Art Director Frank Gimpaya Translator Maria Balderrama Distributors Total Circulation Services Ubiquity Distributors, Inc. Bernhard DeBoer, Inc. Printing Expedi Press

Nueva Luz (ISSN 0887-5855) is a photographic journal published by En Foco, Inc, a not-for'profit national visual arts organization, 32 East Kingsbridge Road, Bronx, New York 10468, (718) 584'77I8. Single issue price is $5.00. Individual Membership is $25.00 and includes four issues of Nueva Luz, subscription to Critical Mass Newsletter, and free entry in Slide Registry; Institutional Subscriptions are $40.00; International Subscriptions are $35.00; and Supporting Membership $150.00 and includes a free catalog and poster from a major En Foco exhibition.

Portfolios of at least 15 unmounted prints or slides may be submitted for viewing. If mailed, the prints may be no larger than ll"xI4�. A self-addressed stamped envelope and appropriate packaging must accompany all mailed portfolios to insure proper return. We do not assume responsibility for unsolicited photographs or manuscripts sent by mail. Photographers wishing to deliver portfolios in person must call our office to make arrangements. For advertising rates and distribution contact En Foco, Inc.

Copyright Š 1993 by En Foco, Inc. All Rights Reserved Nueva Luz is made possible with funding by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer and the Bronx Delegation of the City Council, New York State Council on the Arts, and The National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

All rights reserved. Nothing may be reproduced or published in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher, En Foco, Inc.

Editorial Pa $ c

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ab(a una vex, no hace mucho, en los tiempos en que las cdmaras fotograficas funcionaban sin baterias, los rollos de pelicula en bianco y negro se conseguian en cualquier farmacia, la palabra “fot6grafo" no significaba artista y la unica galena fotogrdfica en la ciudad de Nueva York se encontraba en un sOtano; existta la percepci6n de que la fotografia, en serio, tenia que vex con la revelaciOn de la verdad, la rectitud, el compromiso con alguna causa y la confkmxa en alguna causa o en la gente Exceptuando aquil, cuyo interns primordial se concentraba en fotografiar el paisaje, el trabajo del fot6grafo no encontraba salida comercial. Por lo tamo, producia obras que reflejaban sus inquietudes mds profundas explorando con intencidn inocente, su verdad interior sin que la expresiOn se inhibiese por temor a desplegar compasiOn y vulnerabilidad.

Desde entonces, la fotografia asistiO a la escuela de arte canvirtiOndose en arte chic y, por consiguiente, reducendo su accesibilidad y su beneficio, de cardcter pluralista, a la sociedad. Su vox se ha torna­ do fria retOrica haciOndose eco de la decadencia de un mercado artfstico sin ilusiones y carerue de brio, hambriento de cualquier creencia cultur­ al, ritual o deidad y dvido de apropidrselas en aras de la farm y la fonuna.

El trdnsito de la fotografia a la nueva era se beneficiaria con la reflexiOn de amalgamar lo anterior con lo presente. El revuelo que causa la tecnologia nueva es sOlo un mecanismo mds para crear imdgenes y es una continuidad; pero, la raxOn de ser y el propOsito del creador de la imagen son aruiguos. La mayoria de los pueblos concibieron la creaciOn de hndgenes como un medio para expresar el mundo de los espiritus, de forma visible; para darle forma a esos grandes misterios; para esclarecer la relatividad entre los animales, los seres humanos, los dioses y el universo.

No es necesario consultar una encuesta televisiva para concluir que, al presente, gran parte de la creaciOn de imdgenes no tiene valor cdguno. La sociedad estadounidense se encuerura tan desarraigadadesu experiencia que la inventa, tomdndola de la realidad que presentan los medios de communicaciOn en sus sit corns. Muchos fotOgrafos recurren a copiar las experiencias de otras culturas en sustituciOn de abundar en la historia cultural propia. Los vocablos, inspiraciOn, propOsito y destino, se encuentran ausentes de las lecciones impartidas en las instituciones que se dedican a enseflar las artes, y de las cuales surgen la mayoria de nuestros fotOgrafos de hoy.

La nueva era exige algo mds que un nuevo recorte y un tocadiscos de compactos, Exige al creador de la imagen, de actualidad, la raxOn y el propOsito de su compromiso; le exige que ideruifique a nombre de quiin se expresa y, finalmente le exige, que identifique a cudl conocimiento le estd a dando continuidad y que defina de que manera ha de contribuir es continidad.

nee upon a time, not so very long ago when cameras didn't need batteries and black and white film could be purchased at any drug store and "photographer” didn't mean artist and there was only one photographic gallery in New York City, heated in a basemem, there existed a notion that serious photography was about truth, honesty, commitment and belief.

With the exception of those working in landscape related work, photographers didn’t have much of a market for their serious work, so they made photographs that addressed their deepest concerns, exphring with innocem intent the truth of themselves, unabashed by their compassion and vulnerability.

Photography has since gone to art school to become smart art and has consequently narrowed its accessibility and pluralistic benefit to society. Its voice has become largely an unimpassioned rhetoric that echoes the decline of an already disillusioned and dispirited art marketplace hungry to immediately appropriate any culture's belief, ritual or gods for the sake of fame and fortune.

The transition of photography imo the new age would do well to consider an amalgam of the old and new. The excitemem of the new technology is only another device for image making and is ongoing, but the reason for and the purpose of an image maker is ancient. Most of earth's people saw it as a way to make the spirit world visible, to give form to the great mysteries, to illuminate the relationship between crea­ tures, humans, gods and the universe.

It doesn’t take a television survey to see that much of today’s image making doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. American society is so detached from its experience that it invents its own, borne out of media’s sit-com reality. Many of its photographers have turned to copy­ ing other cultures’ experiences as a substitute for exploring their own cultural history. Words like inspiration, purpose and destiny seem far removed from the teachings of educational art institutions from where most of our photographers emanate.

The new age asks for more than a new haircut and CD play­ er; it asks today’s image maker the reason and purpose of their involve­ ment, it asks what tribe do they speak for and, finally, it asks what wis­ dom has been passed on and how will they add to it.

Charles Biasiny-Rivera Editor

Tabic of Coplepl?

Editorial...........................................................

Andrea C. Davis..............................................

Willie R. Middlebrook....................................

Ricardo E. Zulueta..........................................

Commentary by Deborah Willis-Braithzvaite.

Comentario......................................................

........ page 1 ...pages 2-11 .pages 12-21 .pages 22-31 ......page 32 .......page 33

Cover Photograph: Willie R. Middlebrook, #247, Portraits of My People Series, 1991.

Manipulated gelatin silver print, 66" x 40”.

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Apdrea C. Davi^

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Andrea C. Davis, a freelance photographer, spent her formative years in Jamaica where she was bom. Currently residing in Brooklyn, she received her B.A. from Queens College at the City University of New York, and an M.A. from the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York City. She has taught at New York University, and ICP. Her exhibitions include Washington Square East Galleries, Fouth Street Photo Gallery in New York City. Fire Without Gold: a Celebration of African-American and Hispanic Photographers, New Brunswick, NJ, and others. She has received a New York Foundation for the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship in 1991; a research grant from the Professional Staff Congress, City University of New York; and was part of the Bronx Museum of the Arts’ Artist in the Marketplace Program, Bronx, NY, in 1992. Her work has been collected by the Department of Cultural Affairs, New York, NY; La Bibliothique Nationale, Paris, France; and the International Center of Photography, New York, NY.

”Intrinsic to the environment in Jamaica is the contrast between light and shadow from the obvious of dark people against bright surroundings, to the often dark and shadowy coolness of the interiors of homes as a defense against the sun and heat outdoors. This allegory of light and shadow has been a recurring theme in my work. In the Shadow Series, 1 further explore this relationship by isolating the space of the photograph from the surrounding environment, and by using shadows to create a suggestion of objects, things and events not seen."

Apdrea C. Davi?

Eye No See, Kingston, Jamaica. 1988. Gelatin silver print, 9”x 13”.

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Apdrea C. Davi?

Jacks, Kingston, Jamaica, 1989. Gelatin silver print, I3”x 9” .

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Andrea C. Davi^

In the Shadows of my Brother's House, Kingston, Jamaica, 1989. Gelatin silver print, I3�x 9�.

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Ar>drea C. Davi?

untitled (Karen), The Shadow Series, 1988. Gelatin silver print, 9" x 13�.

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Apdrea C. Davi^

untitled (Jeremy and Wayne), The Shadow Series, 1988. Gelatin silver print, 9" x 13"

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Apdrea C. Davi?

untitled (Gavin), The Shadow Series, 1986. Gelatin silver print, 18”x 14" ■

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Apdrea C. Davi^

untitled (Sharon), The Shadow Series, 1988. Gelatin silver print, 9" x 13�.

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Ar>drea C. Davi?

untitled (Dream), The Shadosv Series, 1987. Gelatin silver print, 9” x 13”.

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Apdrea C. Davi?

untitled (David), The Shadow Series, 1988. Gelatin silver print, 9" x 13�.

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Willie Robert Middlebrook, Assistant Director of the Los Angeles Photography Centers, also teaches photography at California State University in Los Angeles and is affiliated with many other photographic organizations. He received a Fellowship in Photography from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1982, and that same year was named one of the Outstanding Black Artists in California by Brockman Gallery Productions. His work is included in An Illustrated Bio-Bibliography of Black Photographers, 1940-1988, edited by Deborah Willis and Life in a Day of Black LA: The Way we See It, co-produced by Black Photographers of California. His exhibitions include C.E.P.A. Gallery, Buffalo, NY, Watts Towers Arts Center, California AfroAmerican Museum, Los Angeles, CA and many others. In 1992 he participated in the Artist-in-Residence Program at Light Works in Syracuse, NY, and received his second National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Photography.

"My work is based on a collaboration between the subjects I select to photograph and myself. My subjects, family and friends and 1, have an understanding of each other, an understanding focused towards a single goal: to speak to and about our people, our communities. My drive, my direction, my strong social and aesthetic convictions, from which everything that I do stems from my parents endowing strong feelings about the ideals and the integrity of being Black. Thus, the majority of what I do has and always will center around my

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#241, Portraits of My People Series, 1990. Manipulated gelatin silver print, 102” x 56”.

“This is my son and he is beautiful and through him 1 too am beautiful. He is my future..."

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#305, Portraits of My People Series, 1992. Manipulated gelatin silver print, 24� x 20�.

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#245, Portraits of My People Series, 1991. Manipulated gelatin silver print, 60�x 40�-

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it250, Portraits of My People Series, 1991. Manipulated gelatin silver print, 56�x 196�.

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#219, Portraits of My People Series, 1990.

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Manipulated gelatin silver print, 40�x 40�.

#226, Portraits of My People Series, 1990. Manipulated gelatin silver print, 54� x 40�.

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#240, Portraits of My People Series, 1990. Manipulated gelatin silver print, 56�x 102�.

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Ricardo E. Zuluela

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Ricardo Estardslao Zulueta was bom in Cuba in 1962. and raised in Miami, Florida. He received his B.P.A. with honors from the Florida International University in Visual Arts and Public Administration, and completed Master's studies at New York University in Arts Policy & Administration. Recent exhibitions include Humane Society, in Vancouver, Canada; AIDS Information Stands, Miami; and Art &. Politics: Mixing It Up, curated by Lucy Lippard at the Center for Constitutional Rights, NYC. His work has been collected by International Center of Photography, Florida International University, and Lehigh University. He has been awarded the New York Foundation for the Arts Individual Artists' Fellowship and Artist-in-Residence Grant; a National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts/Career Advancement in the Visual Art Artist's Residency Fellowship for 1991-1993; and an a Mid-Atlantic Regional Artist's Feoolowship, 1993.His work has been reviewed in The Village Voice, Interview, Artforum, and The New York Times.

”The selection of photo-performance as a method of work is a result of the impact of the bombardment of media and mass communication on my life. My work is not so much about differences among people as about empathizing and understanding the shared concerns that transcend customs and origin. Although the performance stills of nudes in public places have been described as ‘jarring* or ‘disturbing' as images, they represent hope through awareness of social and humanitarian issues which demystify our common denominators of fear in society today.”

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Ricardo E. Zuluela

Humane Society VII, 1991. Gelatin silver print of photo performance, 48�x 36�.

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Ricardo E. Zulueta

Humane Society I, 1990. Gelatin silver print of photo performance, 48� x 36�.

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Ricardo E. Zulucta

Humane Society II, 1990. Gelatin silver print of photo performance, 48�x 36�.

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Ricardo E. Zulucta

Humane Society III, 1990. Gelatin silver print of photo performance, 48”x 36”.

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Ricardo E. Zulucta

Humane Society IV, 1990. Gelatin silver print of photo performance, 48�x 36�.

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Ricardo E. Zulucta

Humane Society V, 1990. Gelatin silver print of photo performance, 48"x 36�.

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Ricardo E. Zulueta

Humane Society VI, 1991. Gelatin silver print of photo performance, 48�x 36�.

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Ricardo E. Zuluela

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Humane Society VIII, 1991. Gelatin silver print of photo performance, 48"x 36”.

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Ricardo E. Zulueta

Therapy VII, 1988. Gelatin silver print of photo performance, 48�x 36".

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n creating art photographs, Andrea C. Davis, Willie R. Middlebrook and Ricardo E. Zulueta share an intense interest in exploring and extending the boundaries of straight photography. These three photo artists are driven by both aesthetic and social concerns. While some of Zulueta’s works suggest the restructuring of contemporary society, Middlebrook’s photographs begin to recontextualize the image of the African American in this society. Davis uses light and highly formalized photographic portraits to suggest an illusionistic reference to issues relating to isolation and alienation. The resulting factor is for the viewing public to contemplate the motives of these artists and to appreciate their individual points of view.

The recent photographic constructs of Ricardo E. Zulueta are performance art combined with the photographing of nude figures in spaces traditionally outside of art such as industrial plants, subway cars, office buildings and public toilets. Each photograph is tightly constructed and is symbolically representative. Most of the works evoke fear and concern for this society and force us as viewers to ask if this imagery reflects some aspect of our everyday lives.

Zulueta, who works in series, shows two in this issue: Therapy and Humane Society. In conceptualizing his series, Zulueta explores photography and performance art to create an environment that is politically charged. He explores the basis of the interactions between men and women and the larger industrial society and how it effects his life. He states, “the selection of photO'performance as a method of work is a result of the impact of the bombardment of media and mass communication on my life. The photograph (final object) reflects the rapid process of information in a coded tangible image. The still photograph of the performance (4x3 feet) represents a documented concept; therefore, the image’s content and its ability to make us think about contemporary universal issues is the central focus of my work.’’

The sites of these “performances/installations’’ are atypical of where one might find a nude figure. The figures are either blindfolded with cloth and dollar bills or wearing face or gas masks, thus evoking an impending atrocity or the afterlife of a holocaust. His presentation connects us, because of scale, with the world in which we live and we are subject to uncovering a shared experience or shared fate of contemporary society. Working on these series raised many fundamental issues for Zulueta and this viewer, such as what is the nature of his own relationship to the broader society, is his presentation really “jarring’’ and “disturbing”, is there any hope for this society because of his constructed exposes, can photO'performance confront such issues without becoming an issue of pomoeroticism?

Zulueta’s images are orchestrations inspired by postmodernist photographic concerns. The coded messages represent workers in corporate spaces as well as early twentieth century industry. “My work is not so much about differences among people as about empathizing and understanding the shared concerns that transcend customs and origin.’’ What becomes mystifying in Zulueta’s images is that they are both sexual and non-sexual, formal and symbolic, political and apolitical, cultural and cross-cultural.

Zulueta’s psychologically and politically charged images comment upon the socio-sexual and

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political relationships within our society.

In Willie Middlebrook*s recent photographs, representational images are played off of nonrepresentational form. The representational images included in this series, entitled Portraits of My People, are complex, thought provoking images that derive from the photographer's love and respect for the AfricanAmerican community. Middlebrook’s postmodernist and documentary photographs are a series of transformed images. The altered photographs are Middlebrook’s attempt and desire to reconstruct and reexamine his personal relationships with family members and friends. “My work is based on a collaboration between the subjects I select to photograph and myself. My subjects, family and friends and I, have an understanding of each other, an understanding focused toward a single goal to speak to and about our people, our communities."

Since most of Middlebrook’s photographs can be read as a reconstruction of abstraction, stereotyping, representation and meaning as it relates to the black male, the viewer may be impressed with Middlebrook’s thought process.

Middlebrook is dedicated to exploring the idea that the “ethnic identity of the black male is not formed by a single idea, but is touched and weathered from many directions.” Middlebrook’s work is symbolic and is effective because of his photographic process. The majority of Middlebrook’s work consists of images manipulated in the darkroom. The negative is exposed normally onto photographic paper, but instead of putting the paper into a tray of developer, Middlebrook sprays, paints, rubs and drips the developer onto the print. This technique allows the subject to appear fully developed in certain areas and underdeveloped in other areas on the paper. Thus, Middlebrook has cultivated an oppositional metaphor, challenging the viewer to transcend and redefine the social implications found in race, culture and ultimately his photographic process.

Andrea C. Davis’ portfolio consists of black and white portraits of black men and women in highly dramatized postures. The subjects appear to be characters in some kind of performance. The work is informed by contemporary portraiture and the positioning of the subject in the frame. While the viewer is drawn to the psychological tension created by seemingly unrelated monumental shadows juxtaposed on the wall, there are other tensions within the frame created by additional elements such as another figure or chair, suggesting a more haunting isolation. One of Davis’ most striking images is one of two men, one in the foreground appearing disinterested and removed from society and the other in the far background. The ghostdike, faint prison cell bars are projected onto a white wall, revealing a graceful but isolated tension between the two men. Davis’ images are confrontational, serene and meticulously crafted and are reminiscent of dream sequences which evoke a sense of timelessness.

The concerns that these works have in common are race and identity.

One discovers a concern for diverse voices and representations and an interest in the transformations that occur in straight photographic processes when combined with performance art and manipulated photographs. These transformations add to the complexities which are evolving in art, culture and politics.

Deborah Willis-Braithwaite

Deborah Willis-Braithwaite is a curator, photographer and author.

Ms. WillisBraithwaite is the Collections Coordinator for the Smithsonian Institution's National African American Museum Project and was formerly the Curator of Photographs and Prints at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library.

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saturadas sicol6gicamente y poltticamente son el comentario acerca de las relaciones socio-sexmles y poltticas dentro nuestra sociedad.

En las fotograftas recientes de Willie Middlebrook, las imdgenes representativas pretenden ser una forma no representativa. Las imdgenes representativas incluidas en esta serie, titulada Retratos de Mi Gente, son complejas, son imdgenes que insinuan meditacidn que derivan del carifio y del respeto que tiene el fotdgrafo hacia la comunidad africana-americana. Las fotograftas postmodemistas y documentales de Middlebrook son una serie de imdgenes transformadas. Las fotograftas modificadas son una tentativa y un deseo de Middlebrook de reconstruir y reexaminar sus relaciones personales con miembros de su familia y sus amigos. “Mi obra se basa en mi colaboracidn y la de los sujetos que yo selecciono para fotografiar. Mis sujetos, familia, amigos y yo tenemos un acuerdo mutuo, un arreglo enfocado hacia una unica meta: el de hablar de y acerca de nuestra gente y de nuestras comunidades. ” Ya que la mayorta de las fotograftas de Middlebrook pueden iruerpretarse como una reconstruccidn de una abstraccidn, de un estereotipo, de una representacidn y de un significado como se refieren al hombre negro, puede ser que el espectador se sorprenda con la manera de pensar de Middlebrook.

Middlebrook se dedica a explorar la idea que “la identidad itnica del hombre negro no estd formada por una sola idea, pero estd influenciada y moldeada por el tiempo desde muchas direcciones.” La obra de Middlebrook es simbdlica y es impresionante debido a su proceso fotogrdfico. Muchas de las obras de Middlebrook consisten en imdgenes modificadas en el cuarto oscuro. El negativo es expuesto normalmente sobre papel fotogrdfico, en vez de poner el papel en la bandeja del revelador. Middlebrook rocta, pinta, frota y gotea sobre la impresidn. Esta tdcnica permite al sujeto de aparecer sobre el papel completamente revelado en ciertas dreas y no en otras. Ast, Middlebrook ha redefinido una metdfora de oposicidn, desafiando al espectador a trascender y redefinir las implicaciones sociales que se encuentran en la raza, la cultura y ultimamente su proceso fotogrdfico.

El portafolio de Andrea C. Davis consiste de retratos en bianco y negro, de hombres y mujeres de raza negra en posturas sumamente dramatizadas.

Los sujetos aparentan ser personajes en una especie de actuacidn. La obra estd al corriente de los retratos contempordneos y en la colocacidn del sujeto en el marco.

Mientras el espectador es atratdo a la tensidn sicoldgica creada al parecer por las sombras monumentales yuxtapuestas sobre la pared, existen otras tensiones dentro del marco creadas por elementos adicionales tales como: otra figura o una silla, indicando un aislamiento mds. Una de las imdgenes de Davis que mds llama la atencidn es la de dos hombres, uno de ellos en el primer piano parece desinteresado y ausente de la sociedad y el otro en el fondo. Las espectrales y tenues rejas de las celdas de la prisidn se proyectan sobre una pared blanca, revelando una agraciada pero aislada tensidn erure los dos hombres. Las imdgenes de Davis son confroruadoras, serenas y meticulosamente creadas y son recordativos de secuencias de suefios los cuales evocan un sentido de lo etemo.

Las preocupaciones que estas obras tienen en comun son la raza y la identidad. Uno descubre un interns por voces diversas y representaciones y un interns en las transformaciones que ocurren en los procesos fotogrdficos puros cuando se combinan con el arte actuacidn y con fotograftas manipuladas. Estas transformaciones se afiaden a las complejidades las cuales se evolucionan en el arte, la cultura y la politico.

I crear fotograftas arttsticas, Andrea C. Davis, Willie R. Middlebrook y Ricardo E. Zulueta comparten un vivo interns en explorar y extender los Itmites de la fotografta pura. Estos tres artistas fotdgrafos han sido impulsados tanto por los intereses estiticos como los sociales. Mientras que algunas obras de Zulueta evocan la restructuracidn de la sociedad contempordnea, las fotograftas de Middlebrook empiezan a recontextualizar la imagen del africano-americano en esta sociedad. Davis utiliza luz y retratos fotogrdficos sumamente ceremoniosos para indicar una referenda ilusiordstica a los temoas relacionados con el aislamiento y la marginacidn. El factor resultante es para el ptiblico espectador el de contemplar los temas de estos fotdgrafos artistas y apreciar sus puntos de vista individuales.

En las recientes composiciones fotogrdficas de Ricardo E. Zulueta existen actuaciones arttsticas combinadas con fotograftas de figuras desnudas en espacios que tradicionalmente son ajenos al arte, tales como: fdbricas, vagones del metro, edificios de oficinas y servicios publicos. Cada fotografta estd compuesta compactamente y es simbdlicamente representativa. La mayorta de las obras evocan temor y preocupacidn por esta sociedad y nos obliga a nosotros como espectadores preguntamos si esta imagenerta refleja algun aspecto de nuestras vidas diarias. Zulueta, quien hace trabajos en serie, en este ejemplar presenta dos de ellos: La Terapia y La Sociedad Humana. Al conceptualizar sus series, Zulueta explora la fotografta y las actuaciones arttsticas con un esfuerzo para crear un ambiente altamente politico. Zulueta explora las bases de las interacciones entre hombres y mujeres y la mds grande sociedad industrial y las consecuencias de dstas en su vida. El dice: “la seleccidn de fotograftasactuaciones como un mdtodo de trabajo es el resultado del impacto de asediar de los medios de informaci6n y de las masas de comunicacidn en mi vida. La fotografta (el objeto final) refleja el rdpido proceso de informacidn en una imagen en clave tangible. La fotografta inmdvil de la actuacidn, cuyas medidas son de 4x3 pies, representa un concepto documentado, por lo tanto el coruenido de la imagen y su facultad de haceimos pensar sobre temas contempordneos universales es el punto cintrico de mi obra.”

Los sitios de estas “actuaciones/instalaciones” son insdlitos donde uno podrta encontrar una figura desnuda. Las figuras tienen los ojos vendados con paflos o con billetes de ddlar o tambidn llevan caretas y mdscaras anti-gas, ast evocando una inminente atrocidad o el resto de la vida de un holocausto. Debido a su escala, su presentacidn nos conecta con el mundo en que vivimos y estamos propensos a descubrir una experiencia compartida o un destino compartido de la sociedad contempordnea. Trabajando en estas series surgieron muchos temas importarues para Zulueta y para este espectador, tal como cual es la indole de su propia relacidn a una sociedad mds dmplia, en su presentacidn realmente “trepidante" y “perturbadora” existe alguna esperanza para esta sociedad a causa de sus revelaciones compuestas, ipuede la foto-actuacidn hacer frente a tales temas sin llegar a ser una cuestidn de pomo-erotismo?

Las imdgenes de Zulueta son armoniosas estructuras inspiradas por los asuntos fotogrdficos postmodemistas. Los mensajes en clave representan trabajadores en espacios colectivos, como tambiin la industria de principios del siglo veinte. “Mi obra no tiene que ver tanto acerca las diferencias entre la gente como lo es empatizando y eruendiendo las preocupaciones compartidas que transcenden costumbres y origen.“ Lo que es desconcertante en las imdgenes de Zulueta es que istas son a la vez sexuales y asexuales, ceremoniosos y simbdlicas, politicos y apoltticas, culturales e interculturales. Las imdgenes de Zulueta

Deborah Willis-Braithwaite

Deborah Willis-Braithwaite es curadora, fotdgrafa y escritora. Ella es la coordinadora de las Colecciones del Proyecto del Museo Nacional Africano-Americano del Smithsonian Institution en Washington D.C. y es ex-conservadora de Fotograftas y Grabados del Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The Neu/ York Public Library, New

York.

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