Fuera del Abismo wins Best Documentary at FICCI-ON Festival

The short film ‘Fuera del abismo’ continues its journey through festivals, and recently won the Best Film award at the FICCI-ON festival in Ciudad Rodrigo, along with the Public Award.

With a fantastic team, I directed and filmed this short documentary for ACNUR/UNHCR a little while ago in Honduras. We documented the project initiated by Santiago, a young man who was a victim of violence and forcibly displaced, who now offers ways to stay out of gangs to young people in different parts of the country.

Produced by ACNUR/UNHCR
Filmed and Directed: ☝
Interviews: Maria Rubi
Production UNHCR Global: Warda Al-Jawahiry, Farrah Geddes
Production ACNUR Americas: Biel Calderon, Maria Rubi
Production Honduras: Juan Camilo Jimenez Garces, Johanna Reina
Editing: Aimar Galdós
Editing and Sound Mix: Alex Martinez Queralt
Color: Lita Bosch
Graphic Design: Coure
Distribution: Jóvenes Realizadores

Where the Line Blurs, at Espace Jörg Brockmann

Excited to announce the opening of my exhibition “Where the line blurs” at Espace Jörg Brockmann in Geneva, next Thursday the 21st at 18h.

Done between 2017 and 2022, the photographic work focuses on the landscapes and people along Mexico’s northern border. For this installation, the context in which the photographs were taken was brought on as a layer at the gallery walls, wrapping them with local newspapers from the places I worked in.

Shortlisted for the Leica Oskar Barnack Award in 2023, this is its first solo exhibition which will be open until the 214/04/204

On This Side There Are Dreams, Too shortlisted for the Leica Oskar Barnack Award

Excited to announce that my new series “On this side there are dreams, too”, focusing on on the people and landscapes behind the newspaper headlines of Mexico’s northern border has been shortlisted for the prestigious Leica Oskar Barnack Award

After years of working independently on this project, this recognition means a lot to me. Thanks to Zelda Cheatle for the nomination and the ongoing support over the years and to the jury, Caroline Hunter, Luca Locatelli, Whitney Hollington Matewe, Francois Hebel, Karin Rehn-Kaufmann and the team at Leica Camera.

A collective exhibition with the fantastic work by all shortlisted photographers will follow in Wetzlar, Germany, in October.

La Espera – The Wait at Belfast Photo Festival

The project La Espera – The Wait will be part of this year’s Belfast Photo Festival, with an outdoor exhibition at the Botanic Gardens from the 1st to the 30th of June.

Focusing on the moments of stopped time, the project documents the realities of migrants, refugees and deportees across Mexico, highlighting the temporality of their situations.

“The 2023 edition of Belfast Photo Festival explores how artists in the contemporary moment are interpreting the idea of ‘Journey’ as a subject of art. The festival features projects that approach this centuries old preoccupation from new and surprising angles: from works that chart global surges in civil unrest; re-trace epic pilgrimages; explore the passage of time; map out unwritten histories; and chronicle journeys of self-discovery that look inward rather than out at the world.”

The Undertaker of the Desert for 1843 Magazine

Last year I joined writer Matthew Bremner to work on a story weaving together different realities of the origin, transit and destination of part of the irregular migration towards the US for the Economist’s 1843 Magazine.

“César Ortigoza looked out over the Arizona desert and sighed ‘It’s not easy out there,’ he said. He is the co-founder of Armadillos group, a volunteer organisation which helps families find the bodies of the many migrants who disappear in the US-Mexico borderlands. Since their founding, Ortigoza estimates that his organisation has found hundreds of bodes. He once located 12 in a single day.

In 2018 he started searching for the bodies of three migrants who had been reported missing. It would end up taking him months.”

We followed Ortigoza on one of his searches along the US-Mexico border and later on we visited the relatives of the small group who perished in the border in their hometowns in the Mexican state of Sinaloa to document their environments and what they left behind.  

“L’ours, les chasseurs et la cocaïne: qui a tué Cachou?” for M Le Magazine du Monde

A few weeks ago I went to Val d’Aran, in the high Pyrenees, to document the story surrounding the death of bear Cachou for M Le Magazine du Monde. Together with Le Monde’s correspondent in Spain Sandrine Morel we spend a few days in the mountains documenting the areas where the bears live, those working on their wellbeing as well as people involved in the ongoing investigation of a case that hit the headlines over a year before. Check out the article on M Le Magazine du Monde’s site here.

“With her big inquisitive eyes and her khaki uniform, Anna Servent looks like actress Frances McDormand in ‘Fargo’. That’s good, the case in which the head of the forest and environmental police of the Spanish Catalan Pyrenees has been involved has all the ingredients of a film by the Coen brothers: a mysterious crime in a deep valley, witnesses to absent subscribers, unlikely suspects, mind-boggling twists, a good dose of poison, and pounds of cocaine. And, crowning the story: a bear for victim. ‘If Cachou hadn’t been wearing a GPS collar, we would never have found him,’ she admits. ‘In this region, the reintroduction of the bear arouses very strong opposition. For centuries, hunters have done everything to get rid of them. And they had almost succeeded in the 1980s, by poisoning them with strychnine…’ After undertaking a careful examination of the area where the ursid was, Anna Servent discovered the remains of a deer. Pieces of the animal’s skin lie on branches, high up, as if they were laid there for only a bear to find. Was the deer used as bait? Was the animal killed and soaked in antifreeze to poison Cachou?”

 

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La Espera exhibition catalogue

For the exhibition at Galerie Focale we have produced an exhibition catalogue. The 36 page publication takes the form of a fanzine and includes the text done by Elisa Rusca for the project.

La espera (literally ‘the wait’) is a process of documenting the life of migrants, refugees and deportees across Mexico. […] Ruiz Cirera’s humanitarian style searches for an intimate relationship with its photographed subjects, while connecting them through the universal experience of the wait.

His photographs depict men, women and children immersed in situations of frozen time. They are all waiting for something: for their visa, for the right moment to cross the border, for a message from someone they know. We can all relate to the sensation of being caught in a limbo where our faith depends on factors going beyond our possibilities and will. For the majority of us though, to be in suspension is a temporary and disjointed experience within the flow of time. For those who live a situation of displacement, frozen time is all the time to live – and it is exhausting.”

Designed by Phantasia Services digitally printed by Derra in Barcelona. Can be purchased by 15€ at the gallery or directly to me.

 

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La Espera opens at Galerie Focale

Opening of the exhibition of La Espera tomorrow 17th of November at 18h at Galerie Focale in Nyon. The work, awarded the 11th Prix Focale – Ville de Nyon, will be on display until the 18th of February.

La espera (literally ‘the wait’) is a process of documenting the life of migrants, refugees and deportees across Mexico. […] Ruiz Cirera’s humanitarian style searches for an intimate relationship with its photographed subjects, while connecting them through the universal experience of the wait.

His photographs depict men, women and children immersed in situations of frozen time. They are all waiting for something: for their visa, for the right moment to cross the border, for a message from someone they know. We can all relate to the sensation of being caught in a limbo where our faith depends on factors going beyond our possibilities and will. For the majority of us though, to be in suspension is a temporary and disjointed experience within the flow of time. For those who live a situation of displacement, frozen time is all the time to live – and it is exhausting.”

An excerpt of the text wrote by Elisa Rusca, curator of the Red Cross Museum, for the project. A conversation event will take place next Tuesday the 21st at 18:30 with myself and Elisa, moderated by Anne Gallot from Focale.

Galerie Focale: Place du Château 4, 1260 Nyon

 

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La Espera wins Prix Focale – Ville de Nyon Award

Excited to announce the project La Espera, The Waiting, has been awarded this year Prix Focale – Ville de Nyon and will be exhibited at Gallerie Focale in Nyon, Switzerland on November this year.

Done in Mexico between 2017 and 2022, the project documents the realities of migrants, refugees and deportees across the country highlighting the temporality of their situations. Focusing my camera towards moments of stopped time I aimed at showcasing the feelings of distance, isolation and lostness I often saw.

 

The Bridge at Ambulante Film Festival

Friends in Mexico, The Bridge will be screened at Ambulante Film Festival. Especially happy to see The Bridge having a spot on it on this year edition as the festival was an important reference for documentaries while I was living in Mexico, where I got to discover some films that eventually inspired this project. The screening will be part of Coordenadas Chihuahua and screened at Centro Cultural de las Fronteras in Ciudad Juárez on the 2nd of October.

Mexico City’s “Ajustadores” for Zurich Insurance Group

This summer I spend two days roaming around Mexico City with a team of ajustadores “adjusters” documenting their work for a book designed by Panda und Penguin studio in Switzerland for Zurich Insurance Group to mark their 150th year anniversary.

“Mexico City at last count had 8.9 million residents. And including the people living in its greater metro area, residents number around 20 million! Naturally, they might occasionally need to file claims. Especially as the driving habits of big-city dwellers in Mexico can leave something to be desired. Very often, the biggest vehicle has right-of-way at intersections. Lane changes often involve psyching out other drivers. Traffic congestion is a way of life. In fact, according to one study, the average speed on roads in Mexico City, as the population has grown, has dropped to 11 kilometers per hour – around the same as in 1910, when horse-drawn carriages were still on the roads.”

Ajustadores are agents on wheels who navigate hazardous roads, poor weather, unfriendly neighbourhoods and potentially volatile situations on a Honda RR 600cc motorbike to help customers at the scene of motor accidents. “In Mexico it is imperative for an ajustador to arrive at the exact location of the incident to help our customers avoid a long legal process. It means we spend most of our time on the road so we have to ride with caution,” says Alondra, who has been a motorcycle ajustadora for nine years.

You can see some photos below and the book and its other stories here.

 

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The Ephemeral Art of Mexico City’s Food Stalls for the New York Times

“In the heart of Mexico’s capital, the colorful signs that have come to define the urban landscape of the city are being erased.”

A couple of weeks ago I worked on a project by The New York Times documenting some of Mexico City’s food stalls, focusing on the ongoing loss of iconic hand painted signs that decorate street stalls in central Cuauhtemoc neighbourhood, and those that still remain. With text by Natalie Kitroeff, the pictures can be seen on a microsite here.

 

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The Bridge at Flatpack Festival in Birmingham

The Bridge will be screened on the Mid-length: Territory selection of the British festival Flatpack on Wednesday 18 May.

 

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Documenting the integration of refugee families for the UNHCR

Sharing some stills of a short film I worked on for the UN Refugee Agency in Saltillo, Mexico, where we met Dania and her family. Back in Honduras, Dania was being threatened by local gangs, and after a gruesome attack that left her kid severely wounded, the family fled on the spot. Eventually they were given refugee status and resettled by the UNHCR in Saltillo, where we met them about a year after their arrival.

The project is part of an an ambitious multi-year approach planning by the UNHCR that focuses on solutions, such as effective integration. We worked with a very small team in order to be as unobtrusive as possible, focusing on intimate and nuanced family moments that would illustrate the day-to-day of the family after and their integration in the new country.

 

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“Sindicat de l’Hospitalet” for The Guardian

The Guardian Documentaries features the short documentary “Sindicat de l’Hospitalet” in which I worked as a cinematographer with director Irene Baqué.

“Near Barcelona, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat is one of the most densely populated cities in the EU and home to a large migrant community. Dedicated to protecting the most vulnerable members of this fringe society, a group of young volunteers set up Sindicat, a renters union that is working relentlessly to counteract the housing crisis engulfing the often undocumented residents”

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The Bridge – Official Selection at STXIFF

The Bridge has been included in the Official Selection of the South Texas International Film Festival and will be screened in Edimburg, TX, on January 2022.

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Premiere of The Bridge on Topic

Excited to announce my directorial debut, The Bridge, is now available to watch on Topic’s platform. Filmed in four cities between the US and Mexico, the short documentary follows the story of Jesenia and Luis, a binational couple separated by immigration laws in the US, as they embark on a personal journey towards the El Paso – Ciudad Juarez International Bridge. Focusing on universal subjects such as love, family, borders, migration and belonging, the film digs into their realities as well as Ruben, the wedding officer in El Paso.

The premiere in the US and Canada coincides with Hispanic Heritage Month and can be seen there on Topic. For those who have no access to this platform for film lovers, you can see it through the link on Films tab on this website.

 

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Beatrice Ferrari for Le Temps

Last week I photographed Beatrice Ferrari, the newly appointed Director of International Affairs for the Geneva Canton for Le Temps at their Geneva offices.

 

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La Espera at the Nederlands Fotomuseum

From 2 October 2020, my new work La Espera will be on show at the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam as part of the Somfy Photography Award. Including work done in Mexico over the last three years, the project focuses on the realities for migrants, refugees and deportees as they seek for shelter across Mexico. Realities forced upon by other countries’ economic situation and border policies.

“The Somfy Photography Award will showcase new work by the nine nominated photographers: Roderik Henderson (NL), Géraldine Jeanjean (NL), Stephan Keppel (NL), Matthieu Litt (BE), Antoinette Nausikaä (NL), Martine Stig (BE), Dustin Thierry (NL), Maarten Tromp (NL), and Jordi Ruiz Cirera (ES). On 23 October 2020, a jury of international experts consisting of Frits Gierstberg (chairman), Menno Kooistra (architect Elephant), Dana Lixenberg (photographer), Thomas Seelig (curator/head of the photo collection of Museum Folkwang in Essen, Germany) and Stephan Vanfleteren (photographer) will announce the first and second prize winners.”

From the 2nd of October until the 6th of December at the Nederlands Fotomuseum, Wilhelminakade 332, 3072 AR Rotterdam

 

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The New Saturday Night for The New York Times

The world is under lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. How is everyone spending Saturday night? The New York Times asked me to respond visually to this question from Mexico City. Their multimedia piece “The New Saturday Night” offers a glimpse into the diverse realities in these challenging times, showcasing 33 different realities from photographers all over the world.

 

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Salsa in the synagogue: exploring Cuba’s fading Jewish community on The Economist 1843 Magazine

The Economist 1843 asked me to join Lara Feigel in Cuba for their feature “Salsa in the Synagogue” which follows her dad’s journey from Antwerp to the island in the 50s. As a 9 year-old who grew up hidden during WW2 and who’s parents were sent to concentration camps, the arrival to a sunny tropical island left a profound mark on his memories. Together we traced his steps visiting the Synagogue’s he used to go, their old neighbourhood and the beach that caught Marcel’s heart, where he swam, exultant, some 70 years later.

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Portrait of Evo Morales for The Wall Street Journal

On Monday I was asked to photograph Evo Morales at the offices of The Wall Street Journal in Mexico City. The former president of Bolivia arrived to Mexico last week after having been ousted.

 

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Portrait of Evo Morales for Der Spiegel

German weekly magazine Der Spiegel commissioned me to photograph former Bolivian President Evo Morales in Mexico City where he now lives in exile after having been ousted.

 

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Honduras Climate Movers for the California Sunday Magazine

Te espero como la lluvia de mayo. I wait for you like the rain of May — a popular refrain among farmers in Central America, where the first rainfall in May long signaled the end of the dry season. But not anymore.

The California Sunday focused their latest issue on the topic of Escape: “First, escaping the past. Then, escaping the present. And finally, escaping the future. So, what do you wish you could escape?” On it you can find the documentary work I did last year in Honduras on the effects of Climate Change on the Central American country and the migration it is creating with words by Jeff Ernst.

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The United Soya Republic at Unseen Amsterdam

“Unseen Amsterdam is delighted to announce its collaboration with Docking Station, a mobile residency for visual storytellers. At Unseen Amsterdam, documentary photographer Jordi Ruiz Cirera will showcase an audiovisual installation of his current project, The United Soya Republic.”

Come to Westergasfabriek to get to see the installation created by Emmie Kollau with my photographs. 20,21 and 22nd of September at every hour o’clock from 13h to 19:30h at the Story Station. Here’s the interview I did with Unseen and here are the details on their website.

 

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For Your Convenience An evening on image-making in a time of food ignorance and ecological imbalance

ARIAS & UNSEEN proudly present ‘for your convenience’, an evening on image-making as artistic research and critical tool in a time of food ignorance and ecological imbalance – with documentary photographer Jordi Ruiz Cirera, artist Sheng-Wen Lo, cultural theorist and curator Alena Alexandrova and photographer, writer and critic Alireza Abassy from Sarmad Magazine, moderated by art historian and Unseen Media Manager Saba Askary.

 

 

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Scoop: The United Soya Republic at the Humanity House in The Hague

Scoop is a collaboration between Humanity HouseDocking Station and Popradar The Hague.
Jordi Ruiz Cirera will talk about his project The United Soya Republic with artist and moderator Yair Callender. The conversation will revolve around the question: what is your responsibility as a consumer in a world where people are fully connected to each other?

18th of September at 5PM at Humanity House, Prinsegracht 8, The Hague

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Guest lecture at KABK

This coming Monday the 16th of December I’ll be a guest lecturer at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (KABK), speaking to the third year students of the Bachelor in Photography.

 

Chivas’ fans for 11Freunde

A couple of weeks ago I went to Guadalajara to photograph the fans of C.F. Guadalajara, best known as Chivas, on their match against San Luis. It ended 3-0 to the joy of the locals who celebrated with chants all along. A great assignment from german magazine 11Freunde with words by Andrea Canales.

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Starting a month-long residency with Docking Station in Amsterdam

During the month of September I’ll in Amsterdam to join the Docking Station family. During my three weeks residency I will be sharing my ongoing work The United Soya Republic with with their network of contacts to further develop its next stages. I’ll be staying at the Story Station in Westergasfabriek, a living unit that doubles as an exhibition space which we will put to use during Unseen Amsterdam, where an audiovisual performance of the work will be presented.

“Docking Station’s mission is to bring high-quality visual stories out there so that they can make an impact. Because they provide us with new windows onto the world. They can help us understand complex issues related to migration, climate change, conflict and identity. They can create empathy and connect people. Sometimes all these stories need is a little help to make them grow and reach a broad and diverse audience. That is why eight times a year we invite one visual storyteller (who we call a Docker) to dock at our bay and connect with our creative network.
Our network that includes: photographers, curators, gallery owners, designers, new media experts, journalists, experts related to the theme of the project and many more that help the photographers to develop their socially engaged story. Docking Station provides a platform for the development of visual stories and is at the same time a mediator between the photographer, workspace/organisations/companies and the audience.“

 

 

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The Villa Planchart in Caracas for Le Monde M Magazine

Today M le Magazine du Monde publishes the work I did at the Villa Planchart in Caracas with words by Marie Godfrain.

Long before the star architects solicited around the world, pioneers left their mark on distant lands. In 1953, in a booming Venezuela, the Planchart, great admirers of the avant-garde style of Gio Ponti, asked him to build a house on the heights of Caracas. The Italian designed a luminous residence known to locals as “El Cerrito”.

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Los Menonos opens in Paris at Gare de l’Est

“The Circulation(s) festival is dedicated to the European photographic diversity and aims at discovering new talents. Since it has been created in 2011, Circulation(s) has exposed more than 382 artists, and gathered about 266 000 visitors. Both a springboard for young photographers and a laboratory of contemporary creativity, the festival occupies a specific place in the French and international photography, and attracts a constantly growing audience”.

Pleased that Los Menonos will be on display in a public exhibition in Paris just outside Gare de l’Est, as well as at the main festival hall at Le Centquatre from the 20th of April until the 30th of June.

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Member of Panos Pictures

Very happy to announce I’ve joined the esteemed British photo agency Panos Pictures. Excited to be part of this big family of talented photographers and filmmakers contributing from Mexico and beyond.

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Looking Across the Border for Topic

In December 2018 I went to Tijuana, Mexico, for Topic to direct the documentary series “Looking Across the Border” in which we asked migrant and asylum seeking kids and teens what they thought their life would be when they crossed the border. Their responses, which detail dreams of school, skateboarding, and freedom from violence, stand in sharp contrast to political rhetoric and the harsh circumstances that brought them here in the first place. The work was done with cinematographer Ben Ingoldsby, sound designer Alberto Sánchez Nué and editor Irené Baqué.

A week after the release Kira Joseffson interviewed me about the series and on my work along Mexico and specially along the northern border, you can see it here.

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The United Soya Republic opens at Centro Cultural Juan de Salazar in Asunción

The biannual photo festival El Ojo Salvaje opens this month in Asunción, Paraguay, with a series of exhibitions and talks devoted to land use and land issues around the world. With works by colleagues such as Daniella Zalcman, Pablo Piovano, Isadora Romero and Luis Vera, my ongoing work The United Soya Republic will be on a solo exhibition at Centro Cultural Juan de Salazar, from the 6th until the 30th of December.
Prior to the opening on the 6th on a round table conducted by Mayeli Alba with members of the OLT, Organisation for Land Struggle, and myself we will discuss the photographic work and the realities of campesino communities in the country and the effect agribusiness is having on them
As part of the festival, I will also conduct a workshop with local photographers titled Photographic Narratives on the days 7th and 8th of September, where we will discuss ways to various approaches to developing long-term projects as well as edit the student’s work.

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Costa Rica, ripe for Malaria Elimination for the WHO

Following the 2nd Annual Global Forum of Malaria-Eliminating Countries held last month in Costa Rica by the World Health Organization, we travelled to Limón to document the efforts made by the Costa Rican Ministry of Health to eliminate malaria on its soil, especially in the banana plantation regions. The work was published on the WHO website with words by Edward Mishaud and video by filmmaker Duna Tatour.

 

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Miradas a la Ciudad – A Look Back at the City opens at the Museum of the City of Mexico

The project Miradas a la Ciudad – A Look Back at the City, on which I worked last November, will be exhibited at the redeveloped and just re-opened Museum of the City of Mexico. Active for over 50 years, the museum has opened its first permanent exhibition space devoted to the analysis and study of Mexico City’s urban phenomenon. With the aim of giving voice to those who make Mexico City such a unique place – from a taco seller in Colonia Narvarte to a taxi driver in Observatorio, Garibaldi Plaza’s mariachis and the Santa Muerte worshippers in Tepito – I was asked to create a series of portraits that would be shown alongside words by Georgina Hidalgo Vivas, who curated the room with Mediapro Exhibitions.

 

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“Can Sugar Tax Work?” for The Telegraph Magazine

Mexico, the consumption of fizzy drinks per capita and obesity rates are among the highest in the world, and yet it was one of the first nations to introduce such a tax. I worked with journalist Henry Bodkin in Mexico City and the southern state of Chiapas in a bid to understand the effects of the tax on fizzy drinks consumption and people’s lives. The Telegraph Magazine has just published the work.

 

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Covering the Caravana Migrante for Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal

Organised by Pueblos Sin Fronteras, a group of Human Rights activists and volunteers, the Caravana Migrante helps groups of Central American migrants and asylum seekers safely reach the US border. The journey can be dangerous and the organisation operates in the belief that there is safety in numbers.

Since its beginning in 2010, the month-long ‘Caravan’ has been relatively low-key, but in 2018 it reached a record 1500 people, mainly families fleeing political instability after the controversial elections in Honduras. The large number prompted President Trump to tweet about it, creating a political and media storm between both countries with participants at the centre. I covered a stretch of the Caravan’s route for the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. The photos were also published on the front page of Italy’s la Repubblica.

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“Tapachula, Carrefour des Exilés” published in M Le Magazine du Monde

To get to Tapachula is to see the end of the tunnel. The border city of southern Mexico provides relief to hundreds of thousands of refugees en route to the United States. Many come from Latin America, but also, since Europe has been tightening its borders, from Africa or Asia. And yet, with Donald Trump and his wall project, what should be a stopover turns into the end of the journey for many.” – Maryline Baumard, French journalist.

Following Maryline Baumard‘s report on Tapachula, I went to the southern Mexican city to document the situation for migrants from Asia, Africa and Latin America. M Le Magazine du Monde published the work and a slideshow of it can be seen here.

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Finalist of the Thomson Reuters Foundation & Barilla Center Media Award

Thomson Reuters Foundation and Barilla Center partnered up to create the Food Sustainability Media Award, which “aims to recognise the work of professional journalists and emerging talent from all over the world for excellence in reporting and communicating issues related to food security, sustainability, agriculture and nutrition”. I was among the finalists for my ongoing work, The United Soya Republic.

 

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Los Menonos part of the main exhibition in the 16th Dong Gang International Photo Festival

Los Menonos is travelling to Korea where it will be on show as part of the main exhibition at the 16th Dong Gang International Photo Festival. Curated by HeeJung Kim, the festival this year goes under the title ‘I conflict, therefore I am”. Running from 14 July until 1 October 2017 at the Dong Gang Museum of Photography, the exhibition – the second largest photo exhibition in the country – is part of an expansive programme of photography events. The work will also be part of a comprehensive publication alongside other invited artists.

 

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Mitad y Mitad – collaboration with Huck magazine

The film Mitad y Mitad, which I shot and directed last month in Juarez, has been published on Huck magazine’s website and can be seen here. The film follows the daily commute Karla Nutter makes between Juárez, Mexico and El Paso in Texas.

At 22, Karla is among the 2.7 million people who make up El-Paso-Juárez-Las Cruces, one of the largest bi-national regions in the world. In any other metropolitan area her commute to work would take 20 minutes, but things are slower when you have to cross an international border.” A collaborative piece of work made with a great team, the project was edited by Isabel Freeman and produced by Isabel, Andy Kurland (who also wrote the accompanying article) and myself.

 

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The United Soya Republic solo exhibition at Francesca Maffeo Gallery, UK

Following my collaboration with contemporary photography gallery Francesca Maffeo Gallery, The United Soya Republic will be exhibited as a solo show from 22 April until the 3 June 2017.

Francesca Maffeo Gallery is pleased to present The United Soya Republic by Jordi Ruiz Cirera, opening on 22 April 2017. This exhibition presents a journey through the heartlands of the Southern Cone’s agribusiness; it is a portrayal of the changes to the landscape and socio-economic tissue brought about by intensive farming and the exportation of produce in Argentina and Paraguay. Francesca Maffeo Gallery will also present a selection from Cirera’s award winning series Los Menonos in the Print Room Gallery.”

The private view takes place on Friday 21 April 2017 from 6-9pm.

 

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Plumbing vs Gangs at Giangiacomo Fondazione Feltrinelli’s exhibition

On the occasion of World Water Day and in partnership with WaterAid, Giangiacomo Fondazione Feltrinelli curated the exhibition Water is Life to highlight water issues in several parts of the world. The foundation showcased my work, Plumbing vs Gangs, which I made in Nicaragua in 2015.

 

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The Unseen Cost of Agriculture in Argentina, National Geographic’s Proof

National Geographic publishes part of work I made about the impact of intensive agriculture and cattle ranching in Argentina’s rural areas alongside words by Daniel Stone. This is the second chapter of my long-term project The United Soya Republic, which I started in 2013 in Paraguay.

 

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Bright Spark Runner-up, Magenta Foundation’s Flash Forward Award

Established in 2004, The Magenta Foundation is Canada’s pioneering charitable arts-publishing house. My ongoing work The United Soya Republic focusing on land-issues in Paraguay has been awarded second place in the foundation’s global award. The work will be published in a catalogue alongside other winning work and exhibited in Toronto.

 

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Recipient of the Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund

Delighted to announce that I’m a recipient of the Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund, which will allow me to continue my long-term project The United Soya Republic, focusing on the realities of agribusiness expansion in Argentina.

The Emergency Fund, which was set up in response to the shrinking opportunities for storytelling within established media, has to date supported 78 photographers. This year’s 18 grantees were selected from more than 140 photographers nominated anonymously by 26 international photo editors, publishers, curators and educators.

A massive thank you to the person who nominated me, and congratulations to the other winners whose work can be seen on TIME LightBox here.

Through production grants, mentorship, and project development assistance, the Magnum Foundation Fund fosters diversity and creativity in documentary photography and related practices. In collaboration with the Prince Claus Fund, the Magnum Foundation Fund supports both emerging and experienced practitioners. Each year, a changing international committee of nominators invites photographers to submit proposals for consideration, which are then selected by an independent jury. Selected projects are those that explore new models of storytelling, demonstrate a commitment to social issues, and/or are grounded in the communities they represent.”

 

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The United Soya Republic exhibited at Ivorypress in Madrid

On 26 May 2015, as part of PHotoEspaña’s Off festival, Ivorypress will present the group exhibition Under 35, which brings together the work of five young Spanish photographers: Laia Abril, Alberto Lizaralde, Javier Marquerie Thomas, Óscar Monzón and Jordi Ruiz Cirera. Influenced by their own environment and conscious of the importance of their work at this moment in time, the work of these five up-and-coming artists reflects a new generation of Spanish photographers with an international presence. The lack of institutional support has led several of them to become their own managers, publishing and promoting their work with great creative freedom, energy and eagerness, and producing, as a result, the most significant and inspiring work the genre has seen in recent years.”

There will be a round table with the five photographers chaired by Joan Fontcuberta on 26 May. The exhibited works at Under 35 will also be published in a catalogue of the same name, which will be available at the Ivorypress shop, and later, at select bookstores.

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Los Menonos solo exhibition at Gallery Vasli Souza in Mälmo, Sweden

From 20 February until 21 March, Los Menonos will be exhibited at the Gallery Vasli Souza in Mälmo, Sweden. The gallery has been a centre for contemporary photography in the city since 2012. It promotes a multicultural philosophy by showcasing the work of artists from different parts of the globe and has an interest in concepts that specifically relate to cultural studies. The gallery endeavours to cover popular and often unnoticed nuances within power structures, social class, gender and nationalism.

The opening takes place on Friday 20 February at 6pm. There will also be a signing of the recently released book, Los Menonos. The address is: Gallery Vasli Souza, Gustav Adolfs Torg 10B, 21139, Mälmo, Sweden.

 

 

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