Enfoco | Vagner Mendonça Whitehead


A non-profit dedicated to cultural diversity in photography.

EN FOCO | Photographers

Untitled, me.mo.ri.al series, © 2004
Toned gelatin silver print, 9x9”

drip,
drip,
i heard.
he said:
“i can see your star”.
i smiled,
in the confidence
of our own secret language.

Untitled, me.mo.ri.al series, © 2004
Toned gelatin silver print, 9x9”

how i hated
going into that building.
it swallowed me
without any passion.
how i loved
getting out of that building.
the pollutants
in the air
surprisingly refreshing.
sometimes
i like to think that
my fingerprints are still there.

Untitled, me.mo.ri.al series, © 2004
Toned gelatin silver print, 9x9”

sometimes
i remember this
as if it happened
in slow motion.
she asked me
for the scissors.
i reached around
and grabbed them.
but
before I could handle them to her,
they fell.
slowly they fell
and landed
on her foot.
sharp end first.

Vagner Mendonça Whitehead
Born: Brazil, 1973
Resides: Ferndale, MI

Selected Exhibitions:
Larzish International Film Festival of Sexuality and Gender Plurality,
Bombay, India
Foster Gallery, Eau Claire, WI
Meadow Brook Gallery, Rochester, MI
The Space Gallery, Austin, TX
Surplus Gallery at the Glove Factory, Carbondale, IL
WORKS San Jose, San Jose, CA

Publications:
Nueva Luz photographic journal, Volume 11#1 (2006)

Education:
BFA, Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, GA, 1995
MFA, University of Florida in Gainesville, FL, 2000

Artist Statement:

"me.mo.ri.al is a photo and text project comprised of U.S. and South American landscapes and architectural structures. They depict an imaginary space that exists when one is dislocated from (and longs to be) in his/her place of origin. The word memorial combines two attributes into one concept: a place (present) and a memory (past). Likewise, the photographic index triggers a lived, subjective occurrence.
The act of photographing is analogous to writing, as both create an interpretive space on a piece of paper. The texts here paired with the images do not necessarily correspond to the event they depict, but were based on personal experiences. It is my hope that the viewer/reader attempts to decode these disparate sets of signs, the photographic image and the written word, as one. Though this project does not aim to trace a geographic exploration, it eventually maps a psychological experience.
All prints have been treated with the mordanÁage process. This technique lifts the black areas of the photographic emulsion with a strong bleaching solution, creating veils, stains and bubbles. Its aesthetics suggests the fleeting nature of a memory: the referent is obscured by the chemicals, but not completely obliterated."
MendonÁa Whitehead is currently an Assistant Professor of Art at Oakland University's Department of Art and Art History, where he is developing its New Media specialization.

Website:
www.vagnerwhitehead.com

<< Back to the Photographers.