ARTURO SOTO: TODAY, SOMETHING
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Today, Something (2020-2023) brings together photographs from the southern neighbourhood of Tepepan in Mexico City, where I grew up and where my parents still live. The title alludes to a diary entry by the Italian writer Cesare Pavese from his book The Business of Living. On April 25th, 1936, lacking inspiration, he simply wrote: “Today, nothing.” Pavese’s sentence can be interpreted as an effort to remain productive despite the creative difficulties of using everyday life as the raw material for art. Neighbourhoods (colonias in Mexican Spanish) can significantly influence the development of people’s identities. This project is my attempt to capture how Tepepan has shaped me, focusing on idiosyncrasies and details that I believe carry cultural value, such as the variety of independent shops or the distinctiveness of living a block away from the second biggest prison in the city. The project also captures more abstract urban issues like the absence of public spaces and the area’s rapid but uneven development.
To see more work by Arturo Soto, visit - Website / Instagram
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Today, Something (2020-2023) brings together photographs from the southern neighbourhood of Tepepan in Mexico City, where I grew up and where my parents still live. The title alludes to a diary entry by the Italian writer Cesare Pavese from his book The Business of Living. On April 25th, 1936, lacking inspiration, he simply wrote: “Today, nothing.” Pavese’s sentence can be interpreted as an effort to remain productive despite the creative difficulties of using everyday life as the raw material for art. Neighbourhoods (colonias in Mexican Spanish) can significantly influence the development of people’s identities. This project is my attempt to capture how Tepepan has shaped me, focusing on idiosyncrasies and details that I believe carry cultural value, such as the variety of independent shops or the distinctiveness of living a block away from the second biggest prison in the city. The project also captures more abstract urban issues like the absence of public spaces and the area’s rapid but uneven development.
To see more work by Arturo Soto, visit - Website / Instagram
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