Richard Keis
Somos Oaxaca: Lives, Art and Livelihoods
Alicia Valdez Turtle Dancer
“Shooting documentary photography in a culture that is not your own is a matter of sensitivity and balance. When I say balance, I mean not only the balancing of the physical elements in an image, but the cultural and personal elements as well.
Since 2015 I have been documenting workers and artisans in Oaxaca, Mexico. I have learned that to take an accurate and respectful portrait of a person requires balancing what I, the photographer, would like to express in the portrait with the desired portrayal of the subject photographed that makes that person proud of who they are and what they do. In order to do that respectfully, I must get to know the subject and include the cultural and personal elements valued by that person. The balancing of these elements is crucial to the integrity of the photograph. The three photographs submitted here are part of my Somos Oaxaca: Lives, Art and Livelihoods project.”