Andrés Mario de Varona
Life and Death in Photography
I recently came across the beautiful work of photographer Andrés Mario de Varona on Instagram and it instantly made me want to dig deeper into his work.
“I was born into two Cuban families and grew up in Miami as a first generation Cuban-American. The majority of my teenage years were spent running cross-country while attending high-school.
Being interested in images and writing, and pressured to take a more practical approach, I pursued a degree in journalism. However, I realized that I did not want to take pictures, but instead create them. Little by little I learned to speak a language true to myself. The death of my mother helped me discover this, and it galvanized my need to know more about myself and what I am capable of expressing. After graduating, I moved to New Mexico. Since living in the desert, my obsession with death morphed into an obsession for life, and I became eager to learn what it truly means to connect with others.
I’ve had to ask myself why I am attracted to illness, and intensity. I believe my own sense of loss and unfairness has made me want to see other people who have experienced profound loss, or that are going through a painful change in themselves.
Art is my tool to measure cycles of indignation and of healing, our growth as human beings, and as a way to record victories. What I create is an attempt to enter the collective human experience, as well as an access point into myself.”
I was deeply touched by his photo project Trials in which Andrés meets fellow artist Marcia Reifman and the admireable forming of their friendship despite their different ages. Andrés published a short article for NPR about his relationship with Marcia Reifman, their collaboration, their outdoor desert studio The Refuge and Trials.
Recently Andrés was featured in a TV interview on NM-PBS/KNME-TV. The interview follows his first photographic project, Contact and bridges into his more recent photographic project Trials. His installation practice with The Refuge is also discussed.
In short its about the obsession he had over his mothers death and how that morphed into an obsession for life in New Mexico.
That’s it for this newsletter!
If you have any suggestions for interviews, features, topics, interesting work or photo books that I should check out, don’t hesitate to leave a comment or reach out!
Stay safe and keep shooting.
Kim
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Some incredible work there! Thank you for bringing Andrés to me/our attention!
A wonderful discovery indeed! The collaboration with Marcia Reifman seems consoling and leads both of them to meaningful and beautiful images. The foto of Marcia in her bamboo outfit made me think of Graciela Iturbide’s work. Great job! The last photos in the post I didn’t follow well. But I hope they continue their friendship and the art that follows from it.