Moxeo Dancer. Moxeos adopted elements of Catholic Jesuits adapting them to traditional culture. City of Trininidad. Boliva. The Amazons. 2012.

Nicolas Janowski

The Liquid Serpent

[ EPF 2013 SHORTLIST ]

ESSAY CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT

The Amazon is neither man nor animal. She is nature’s hybrid.

Mirrors of man’s contradiction, of a world to which she belongs and yet remains distant. The Amazon bears forth over-stimulated cities pervaded by a savage force, which exist simultaneously as survival mechanisms. Even disintegrated indigenous groups in the jungle, separated by language but intimately linked by memory, share the same myths and religious convictions.

But the accelerated transformation process lived by the Amazon depends as much on internal natural forces as it does on the international world order. Since its designation as one of the seven natural wonder of the world in 2011, global attention is newly aimed at the Amazon rainforest, revitalizing the discourse about the practices employed in the area.

 

Iquitos, Loreto region. Peru. The Amazons. 2012.
Napo Region. Ecuador. The Amazons. 2011
Tania came from Cajamarca to Iquitos to make a living as a stripper. She was 19 years old when she arrived and now lives there with her 10-year-old daughter. Loreto region, Peru, The Amazons. 2012.
New Apostolic Church. Beni region, Bolivia. The Amazons. 2012.
The introduction of cattle was given by the Jesuits at the same time they created aboriginal reductions in the Beni region at the end of XVII century. Bolivia. 2012
Old ship abandoned on the shore of the Napo River. Napo Region. Ecuador. The Amazons. 2011
Iquitos, Loreto Region. Peru. The Amazons
Aerial view of the Napo River. Beni Region. Ecuador. 2011
Jaguar. Iquitos, Loreto region. Peru. The Amazons. 2012.

 

The historic moment consolidates an extractive hegemonic model with a progressive acculturation of the indigenous communities that need for medicine, machetes, and batteries for their lanterns, generating processes of radical transformation of their native culture.

At the same time, the participation of new social actors with strong global economic interests deepens the ecological imbalance as they disregard biodiversity and provoke the degradation of the environment. Gold, petroleum, the trafficking of exotic species, deforestation on a massive scale, and the introduction of cattle are only some of the threats to sustainability. The courses of sweet water are under grave risk of contamination and, consequently, life itself.

In this transformation of life’s course, gradual but constant, the Amazon also modifies that which draws close to her.

 

Local Party. Election of the Huaorani Queen. Napo Region, Ecuador. 2011.
Jorge and Tania. Iquitos, Loreto region. Peru, The Amazons. 2012.
Amazon River. Iquitos, Loreto region. The Amazons. 2012.
Evangelist Church. Iquitos. Loreto region. Peru. The Amazons. 2012.
Iquitos, Loreto region. Peru. The Amazons. 2012.
Iquitos, Loreto region. Peru. The Amazons. 2012.
The introduction of cattle was given by the Jesuits at the same time they created aboriginal reductions in the Beni region at the end of XVII century. Bolivia. The Amazons. 2012.
Juan, a Quichua Chaman in the rainforest. Napo Region. Ecuador. 2011.

 

Bio

1980, Buenos Aires Argentina

BA degree in Anthropology from the UAB (Barcelona, Spain) Photography studies at Centre Iris (Paris, France) and at ARGRA (Argentina).
In 2011 he received a National Grant from the Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts (INCAA)  for develop a project about Archaeological Sites in Argentina.
He has exhibited collectively in PhotoEspana 2013, Madrid, Fotografia Latinoamericana Contemporanea; Waina, Lima, Peru (2013); Santiago de Chile (2013); The Kiernan Gallery, Lexington, Virginia, USA (2013), Photographic Museum of Humanity Grant, Miami, USA (2012)  Miscellaneous Cultural Center and Los Alamos Gallery (Barcelona, 2006.2007) and PhotoPro’s Gallery (El Paso, Texas, USA, 2009)
Individually in Vendrazanne Gallerie d’art (Paris, France, 2008) and Casa Florida Fotografia Contemporanea (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2013)
His photographs have been exhibited in Argentina, Peru, Spain, France & India.
He currently works as a freelance photographer.

 

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Nicolas Janowski

 

 

6 thoughts on “Nicolas Janowski – The Liquid Serpent”

  2. Gordon Lafleur

    Morrissey, yes.
    I can almost smell this one. Beautiful, visceral, raw, primal, these images cause a physical reaction deep in my chest and belly.
    I’m totally blown away, congratulations Nicolas.

  3. Jeff Hladun

    Congratulations Nicolas, for sure! This is stupendous work; I hope seeing it this late in the finalists’ segment is in no way indicative of where it placed in the judges’ pecking order.

    To be honest, after reading the artist’s statement, a student of anthropology to boot, I was fully prepared for some sort of documentary. This is more of a collection of art works, mixing in some inexplicible way, mystery and relgion. The compositions are strong; the limited use of double exposure(?) interesting; the various techniques seamless together.

    I just find it totally satisfying. Wow!

  5. eduardo sepulveda

    Nicolás,

    me pasa similar a Jeff, pero más un golpe casi neuro-eléctrico a los 40-50, yo no estuve ahí… pero al menos los imagino a través de lecturas. Ver y sentir como si casi nada hubiese pasado realmente después de Quiroga, por ejemplo, o las líneas de ese Jaguar de Borges/ o las imágenes superpuestas de Rulfo / el gafe de la imagen religiosa de Cela, el sexo en Marquez y Vargas Llosa/ y tanto, tanto más. Estoy impresionado de ver tu trabajo y pensar que esa literatura era de imágenes para imaginar, y que muchas las imaginé exactamente como se ven en él.

    O que decir de toda la producción musical de esa misma época… si tuviera que pensar tu ensayo así- musicalmente- no me quedaría más que desear que esas 22 fotos sean más. Intuitivamente y no por gusto o gula, que podría ser perfectamente… pero más bien por imaginación de ritmo, de extensión Amazónica, de hibridación inconclusa, constante.

  6. emmaj

    Beautiful work Nicolas… I agree they have a similar style to the projects mentioned above, but for me these pictures are richer in their representation, heavier, darker, more intimate, more alive. I want to look at them again and again.

    As a photographer living in Buenos Aires, I am so excited that the amazing photographic work I see all around me in this country and on this continent is finally really being appreciated by the West and the rest of the world.

    Thanks David and burn for being a platform for such work to be seen!

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