Monica Lozano at Spazio Italia
October 06, 2009
Every year an average 230 million Mexicans try to cross the border and enter the USA illegally, hoping for a better life. It is an incredible migratory phenomenon, with a huge number of stories of desperation to tell. Desperation can be an incredible resource when you need to find a way to do something. Things you would have never thought you were capable of doing instantly become possible options.
Monica Lozano Red, winner of the Air Dolomiti Photo Award at ITS#EIGHT, comes from Ciudad Juarez in Mexico, right on the border with the United States and she has seen loads of people coming to her town only to try and cross the border. When she read that "Originality" was the theme of this year's photography competition, it was almost obvious for her that there was a lot of originality to talk about in the stories of the immigrants. She started researching the most amazing attempts to cross borders all over the world, and soon her project "Borders: 11 Original Ways of Starting a New Life" started out. 11 true stories of people who have crossed borders around the world in very unique ways.
Monica's is an extremely powerful project. Everything is there for the viewer to understand. It is a project that needs no words about people who have no voice. Have a look at the pictures in this article, and you'll certainly understand what we mean. Her project is the proof that stories can be told through one single image. And every viewer, no matter their country or language, can understand without the need of an explanation.
The Air Dolomiti Photo Award gave Monica the possibility to showcase her work inside Munich International Airport for all travellers to see. Pictures were displayed from 15 to 29 September in "Spazio Italia", a 120 m² lounge next to the 12 gates reserved for Lufthansa Regional airlines. An exclusive area intended for all passengers to relax in before the flight. Spazio Italia is right in the middle surrounded by gates, so passengers are driven towards it, making it an excellent space for exhibitions.
Choosing Monica as the winner of their prize must have been a "love at first sight" process for the photography field sponsor Air Dolomiti. An airplane soars up in the skies, often crossing several borders in less that a couple of hours. And people in airports have their passports to cross the frontiers and travel from country to country. For illegal immigrants, stowaways and trespassers things are never that simple. That's why an airport can be a perfect setting for a photography exhibition portraying people who have nothing but their dream of a new life in a new country. Passengers can look at Monica's pictures, and then at the passport and ticket in their hands. Two simple pieces of paper, that can change your life. That can turn a trip into a odissey...
Monica's next plans are to travel in several places in Mexico, the United States, Germany and Spain showing this photography project with exhibitions as the one at Spazio Italia. And next year she plans to apply for the photoglobal photography master course at School of Visual Arts in New York.
Our plan is to follow her 'cause she's got a lot to say in photography....
