#ximenez

publicado en Rolling Stone

Todo lo sordido [la misma taberna de la gangsteresa] ha muerto. Andamios y estructuras metálicas punzan el cielo e indican la fiebre constructiva que se ha apoderado del paraje. En donde estaban las casas pajizas de la Calle del Cartucho, se elevan dos edificios de seis pisos.(.) estos hombres son los buscones de la ciudad; los vagos, los que viven anclados en este…

Stop Animation Assignment

Sergio Ximenez, Congestion, 2012

No one should ever have to say  “As American as traffic and congestion” about anything.  However, everyday in every major American city, people are faced with one absolute when commuting to their daily destinations: the inescapable congestion that arises from the heavy traffic in their communities.  With Albuquerque still maintaining a small town mentality, the city seems to carry itself around as being immune to this congestive affliction.  However, the influx of a new populace from other parts of the United States has destroyed this so-called immunity.  The congestion resulting from traffic has become so prevalent on our streets that it is now considered the norm.  People see the congestion as an absolute and part of their daily lives, so much that the population may no longer realize they are in congestive traffic.

The purpose of the Photo a Day project is meant to spotlight a different side of the American car culture in the United States.  The obsession with the automobile has led to a change in the landscape and environment, which has created a new congestive perspective.  It is getting more difficult for the population to see Albuquerque as anything but congestive since it has become so normalized subconsciously.  I wanted my photography to bring back to our conscious the daily congestion that occurs throughout the city from the inevitable traffic so that we can find a way to lessen this congestion and work toward going back to times when it was seen as rare.

Sergio Ximenez, Abandoned Life, 2012

It is common lore that about half of the businesses fail during the first year they are open.  There are many causes and reasons this occurs including poor strategic planning, not making a profit the first couple years, poor location, etc.  Not all businesses suffer the same dreaded fate as many other businesses go on to have many fruitful years serving their respective community.  It must be remembered though that with times of surplus and success comes times of deficit and failure.  Albuquerque may not have been hit as hard as other cities during the recent recession, but some damage was seen.  Business closed down and remained closed while life continued on the outside these empty structures.  

The purpose of the Photo as Document project was to capture photographs of these abandoned structures along the heavily trafficked Central Avenue.  However, I wanted to go a step further and not only depict the abandoned buildings in a deadpan aesthetic.  I wanted to also show the notion that businesses can also conceive life and life continues even after their life cycle has halted and life has seized to exist for these businesses.  It is survival of the fittest from a different vantage point.  The juxtaposition of life and death is seen with the static abandoned buildings in the background of the busy Central Avenue that depicts life with the dynamic blur of the moving automobiles.