Janire Najera

Pride

janirenajera — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 20:03:59 +0000

This photographic project documents the continuing Spanish influence in New Mexico, 400 years after the conquest of the oldest capital city in the USA, Santa Fe.

Many Spanish descendants have been photographed and interviewed to find out when their families settled in New Mexico and how their cultural practices have evolved with the years. With this series I have explored how the traditions of foreign settlers have merged with domestic cultures and influenced the creation of local identity within an environment in constant transformation.

Exhibition in Bilbao

janirenajera — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:17:48 +0000

It was a pleasure to exhibit in Spain the work produced during my artistic residency recently undertaken in Santa Fe (New Mexico). The first showcase took place at ZAWP Bilbao in the Zorrotzaurre peninsula in Bilbao, Spain.

It has been an incredible experience to curate an exhibition in an old industrial space successfully converted into an artistic hub in the city and to have the chance of working with the amazing team of Zorrotzaurre Art Work in Progress.

TV: http://www.eitb.tv/es/#/video/1341674116001

Press: http://www.deia.com/2011/12/27/ocio-y-cultura/cultura/mi-obra-es-arte-que-esta-en-proceso-no-esta-terminada

Radio interview: http://www.eitb.com/es/audios/detalle/804163/entrenandose-ser-astronauta/

test 2

janirenajera — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 20:58:52 +0000

test 1

janirenajera — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 20:57:57 +0000

Tearsheet

admin — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 15:17:19 +0000

This section will become a collection of images and words published in different magazines and newspapers to keep track of recent publications.

Nature

admin — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 15:04:12 +0000

In a personal level I enjoy being in contact with nature as much as possible. I find really relaxing and inspirational walking trough the woods without a camera to disconnect in many levels for a short period. But sometimes I cannot avoid to take some photographs because I feel the need to take a bit of this peace back with me mainly to share it with family and friends. This section will compile a selection of these frozen moments.

Industrial

admin — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:56:23 +0000

Curating an exhibition about the post-industrial landscape of Europe’s Steel Industry has allowed me to visit many industrial sites for the last three years.

In this section I will collect some of the images from these field trips to sites that have been forgotten for decades or visits to factories still in operation to understand the process of steelmaking and the impact on the environment and communities where is based.

The idea is to capture the tangible traces of heritage before these environments are lost to time and regeneration projects. The images have been mainly taken in around Wales (UK) the Basque Country and the Ruhr area in Germany.

Transient Platforms

admin — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:51:44 +0000

Time begins to freeze as the train pulls into the station, mirroring the motion of the train. The temperature in the metro has been dropping for a while, stretching the experience of the expectant faces, dislocating their subjective commuter-time from the objective time and the available time the pieces display. As the train grinds to a gentle halt beside the platform the moment is completely frozen, encased in a block of ice, preserved for study.

Inspired by the large format beach series of Massimo Vitali these images present a random collection of rich individual moments; anonymous strangers interacting in transient compositions. Inverting Vitali’s formula, the absent seaside time of warmth and relaxation is replaced by the chilled concrete time of the metro platform. The people on the beaches are indulging a timelessness they want to last forever. In contrast, the men and women occupying these photographs are often willing time to speed up. Low lighting turns the occupants into vague, impersonal figures; frozen between places, projecting themselves into the next stage of their journey, toward their destinations.

Written by Kenneth Trayner

Re-imagining a conflict

admin — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:40:25 +0000

Belfast/Derry 07-08
This series explores the double dimension that characterizes the Northern Ireland’s conflict, inviting to think about other dualities generated by the human nature itself or through the influence of the memory in the understanding of the present. A powerful iconography has emerged to respond to a political situation. These symbols created during or after “The Troubles” are still up in the streets of Belfast and Derry and they are displaying explicit and implicit messages to residents and visitants.

It happened Here

admin — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:36:56 +0000

Basque Country. 2009

Altos Hornos de Vizcaya, was one of the biggest factories in Spain during the XX century. It employed over 40,000 workers in total and was responsible for the economic development of many municipalities such us Sestao and Barakaldo in the Basque Country. It closed down in 1996 and most of the structures were demolished around that time. Only a blast furnace has survived to become in the near future an Industrial Heritage Center to honour the industrial past of the region.

For this series, ex-workers from this factory have been portrayed at the place where their job was located. The area has suffered a big regeneration process during the last 20 years but still it is surprising to see the ex-workers in front of a Convention Center, an Auditorium, and empty building… instead of a lively steelworks as they remember it.

Nothing seems to happen within the images because all has already happened. They exist as journeys to spaces in between, unknown to us whilst simultaneously vague and uncertain to their protagonists.