“Counterpoint”: A conversation between a poet and a photographer

What began as a dialogue between the poetry professor Víctor Vich and the photographer Lucero Del Castillo, in which they exclusively exchanged collected verses and archive photos, culminated in the creation of “Contrapunto”, photobook which won an open call from the Alliance Française and is now an exhibition available until September 16 at the L’Imaginaire Gallery, with hours from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm and is available at the Sur and Unestable bookstores.

“We realized that a self-contained conversation was generated; We didn’t even say hello to each other, we just shared dreamy images and the words of poets”comments Del Castillo, who initially did not envision the direction this chat among friends would take. “It was another way of carrying out a correspondence that started as a game, but then it became something more special and different”adds Vich, who from the fifth photo sent by her former student noticed that a project was beginning to take shape.

Unconnected Symbols

More than a book with a specific message and focused on a specific topic, it is a tool that stimulates the reader’s creativity through elements that do not have a predetermined relationship, but rather depend on the reader’s own interpretation. “The only thing to which the meanings are linked in this project is the matter that contains them [el libro físico]; Everything else is left to the free interpretation of the readers.s”, emphasizes the poetry teacher, who also raises questions about the autonomy of each artistic expression with the questions: “Can the arts work beyond pure individual inspiration? and “What are the implications of collective creation in a society that represses any option for the common?”

The structure of the book is also essential to encourage complete freedom of interpretation. By altering the sheets, which overlap as if they were two decks of cards being mixed, the narrative changes completely. “Even if you get tired and close it the ‘wrong’ way, you will discover new meaning in what you previously saw.”, mentions Del Castillo. Together with his colleague, they decided to eliminate explanatory captions and any rigid correspondence between the poems and the photos. They also tried to avoid over-analyzing things so as not to influence the perception of the book in any way, a nearly impossible challenge to overcome.

Although they no longer continue with this unusual correspondence, the objective of recovering careful observation and careful reading, which was consolidated with this joint project, will continue as a guide for future work. “What we propose is that we stop for a while to read poetry or look at a photo carefully. Nowadays there is no time and we consider it not very ‘productive’, but we really need it”, concludes Del Castillo, who will continue to develop projects through a documentary and artistic approach.