The socially engaged side of "Sahel: The end of the road", greatly shaped my perspective on the making of the personal proposal . I touch this point in depth in : Unit 7 Reflection page, No. 1.

A terribly sad metaphor I found on "Sahel" was the idea of regained personal space after death. The photographer was also highly interested on portraying the dignity of the affected african people toward the crisis. Population kept the bodies of the passed away covered in white blankets, allowing sufficient space between one and another. While on life they were clearly lacking the minimum to survive, as well as sufficient space and privacy, after passing away they parlty recover this "personal space".

It is heartbreaking how the population made the most effort to keep the dignity of the victims, and how strong the visual impact of protecting the bodies with blankets is.

On The Scent of a Dream, the landscape is much more positive, as Salgao points out the beauty of coffee production and it´s cultural importance. In this case we also see fabric as a method of protection, but in this case the coffee grains are the ones to be protected. By a documental depiction of the harvesting process we see the relation between the workers, literally showed in the image above, which creates a sense of empathy toward the existence of others.

Although considered self-focused, some Pallas "selfies" do explore the sense of personal privacy exposed in highly public spaces, but keeping a sense of appropiation. The character is exposed with a sense of innocence and mystery. By being highly explicit his works search forward a connection between the human shape and the bucholic nature that surrounds us.

Settled in a highly individualistic society as the modern Japan, Araki´s documentary scope allows the study of private space and civil respect towards the other.

What the images make me think about is that, in some way, commuters ignore each other, but not due to lack of empathy, but more like an act of respect. The limits on how close people stand to each other depends on their previous relations, but also on what is socially acceptable. During peak morning hours it may be more likely not to get offended if a person falls asleep on your shoulder; it is understandable.

I am interested on different methods to push social interactions and how can I portray this process within visual , material outcomes.

Again Araki, but in a much more personal project. The photographer made a series of photographs that follow the disease of his wife and her unavoidable death. Heartbreaker and highly metaphorical, Araki explores the appropiation of spaces in relation to death and a sense of respect.

The isolated places her wife is photographed and how her appropiation of those sites brings a sense of dignity mesmerizes me. Araki also involves his young cat, which was quite close to the couple. After the wife passed away, the cat is seen on the places she used to be, which is both nostalgic and brings a dialogue on appropiation through emotions. 

Socially honest portray of nowaday´s life and conditions on a context of overpopulation and contradictory growth of isolation.

Individuality and the respect toward privacy are temporally forgotten due to the context of overcrowdedness. I am interested on analyzing how people overcome this amount of stress, and how detrimental for their health these situations are when they are experienced on a daily basis. These works called my attention on routine, which may be a concept that I may use for further experimentation.

Wolf images seem almost meditative and holy. Commuters are portrayed with a high sense of dignity.

This work, these pictures are silightly irrespectful to the space of others. On the other hand, the  artist had an honest sense of caring and empathy for focusing his work on this cause. It almost claims that these people need better living qualities, and this situation needs to be changed. I come to realize that I feel drawn to works that develop a sense of empathy towards the individuals within adverse social contexts.

Pellizzari ,as Araki, explored how the social rules turn into visual outcomes that portray the socially acceptable private bounds. In Araki´s images japanese people "invaded " the space of others based on the situations. Those places were overcrowded by people, but clear in elements. In "One billion indians", the overcrowdedness of material elements is noticeable.

There is a strong portrayal of the economical and social status of India; there is a dialogue with the problems of poverty , lack of space and resources, and how indians try to adapt the spaces for their most basic and human needs. This series of photos attracted my attention by portraying the dark side of human impact, which involves pollution, for example. Most of the people portrayed were low class, and in a way are shown as the victims of this human economical system.

Michael Wolf´s use of medium plays with the idea of spying and privacy disruption. Both funny and disturbing, it is unclear how Wolf took the pictures. By erasing the identities of the people involved he makes the viewer wonder on the context of the people portrayed. By the look of the photos it reminds me to security cameras in public spaces, which is a direct violation of privacy rights and at the same time something quite common nowadays.

Mexico City´s annual Fair of befriend cultures is an event that intends to create a sense of worlwide unity toward the acceptance of all cultures. 

On previous years the design of the Fair was not succesful in terms of public mobility. The spaces used to be ordered on rectangles along avenues. The overcrowdedness was notorious and people used to feel stressed by the sense of entanglement. Also, the materials used didn´t allowed the air to go throughout properly.

In 2016 Ambrosi Etchegaray designed the fair in a Circular shape, in which the "ceilings" were made or re-used large hemp bags. There was a main corridor. Stores were located in the outer and inner circumference. On the space inside the circled structure there were tables to seat, eat or just get some sun.

Due to the circular structure people were able to move more efficiently, as they were not forced to to 90 angle turns. Due to the materials the inside felt way fresher and less crowded.

I find this proposal as a succesful way of dealing with public events, that even though crowded, gave the sense of intimacy. I found the use of materials quite ecofriendy, and visually appealing . I may experiment with hemp fabrics for this project.

"Circles" is a visually attractive work that ha strong reminicences to previous works I´ve seen from Kwande. Highly interested  on how materials are used with a conscious link to the concept, the artist explores to what extent can materials tell us the qualities of the society we live in. Which metals are considered more valuable? Which objects are considered more beautiful than others and why?.

It was surprising to find Berlinde´s work, as it may be easy for some people to definitely dislike her aesthetic. At first I was concerned on whether she was using real horse corpses, and if not, on how could she achieve such realistic shapes. 

She harms no animals on her process; instead she makes her moulds using corpses. The sinister side of her method is clearly shown in her quite figuratively work, where human and animal shapes are so elegantly distorted. It has strong references to death, but with a hint of beauty and peacefulness.

I relate her works to my previous thoughts on death and the privacy given to the corpses. Her soulless bodies normally fall on a unstable ground, as if they were victims of a dense gravity. The partial hiding of the shapes also create a sense of mystery and uneasiness that make her pieces both passive but metaphorically threatening.

Representing Mexico for 2017 Venice Biennale and using 100 mts at Kurimanzutto gallery in Mexico City, Amorales has had a booming success on his recent works.

Interested on language codification, amorales builds up spaces with abstract shapes and materials that surround the viewer with different methods and intentions. What I find appealing is its use of space, and pattern repetition, the feeling of the public being overwhelmingly surrounded by a neurotic repetition.  Materials (glass and transparency)give a sense of stability and reflection overall. His minimal use of colours is rewarded by the variety of tonalities, textures and space organization, which gives a sense of richness.

I found Climent quite useful in my research in terms on how he uses materiality and how he changes the rhythm and consistency of each. 

Since my performative experiments in public spaces I have been highly drawn to elastic fabric as a material with a variety of possible emotions to portray. On Climent Orozco the  places seem to be blocked by the almost delicate elasticity of the varios fabrics. He involves both elastic and unelastic elements. It is been told that his sensitive comprehension on the usefulness on objects comes from his previous background as a product designer.

"Frenetic Gossamer" is one of the first pieces in which the artist involve a performative element.The elasticity becomes not only essential and repetitive, but also has a sense of change and variability which I personally adore. It is a piece that can hardly be understood when is not experience in real time, but I can grasp an idea on the changing and the dedication towards a smooth flowing rhythm.

As a last point, I consider that Soto Climent is an exciting proposal for mexican art 

This contemporary dance choreography has remained as one of my favourite references for years and I´m still unsure on the actual meaning.

I found it out by following the career of dancer James O´Hara, who has been described by many choreographers as a succesfull dancer based on his animal style of movement. The wilderness of his performance reminds me to lion movements. 

However , this specific choreography feels experimental as it involves a type of dark grains that surround the place . The dancers manipulate these grains in different forms; they use them to attack each other; later on they re-order them. 

It is highly complex to understand the real meaning of this work, as I have never found the whole choreography online and I lack the formal knowledge on dance techniques, but I can clearly tell that I will try to link this techique to my future performance.