Laura Kurtenbach
Selective Memory: La Paz, Mexico
In the current social and political climate we are living in today, it's important to showcase work that seeks to unify us, allowing us to recognize that we are much more similar, than we are different from one another. This series created in La Paz, BCS, Mexico seeks to reveal the personalities and kindness of people, not just in Mexico, but all over the world. This project is a means to better understand the world we all live in, to connect with people and cultures and focus on what makes us all unique, as well as what binds us together; our shared human condition. Instead of seeing others as different, strangers, or something to fear, if we simply embrace other cultures and people, what we ultimately find is understanding and acceptance.
My camera is this conduit, allowing me to connect, interact, to laugh and smile with my subjects and share a moment in time. This series was created with a very simple and limited camera, a twin-lens medium format camera from the 1950s. This camera is a conversation piece, something unassuming, something old, traditional and nostalgic. Showing people the camera and asking each participant if I could make a photo of them, felt like I was having an intimate moment with each of them, connecting us on another level, being allowed into their world and being welcomed. The end results express the dignity, warmth and loving nature of this place and the people.