Manuel Morquecho — Contemporary Art Curator Magazine

Apr 20

Apr 20 Manuel Morquecho

Biography

Originally from Mexico, Manuel Morquecho started to study digital photography in 2009 in Guatemala City, graduating in 2014 from Boston University’s Center for Digital Imaging Arts in Washington D.C. where he currently resides. His main body of work focuses on exploring the urban landscape, the integration of the face and body into fine art, and fashion photography. Morquecho was the International Photographic Society (IPS) Photographer of the Year in 2015-16 and was awarded the 2016-2017 and 2017-18 Washington DC Government Art & Humanities Fellowship. He has done several solo and group exhibits in Atlanta, Guatemala City, Miami, Washington DC, New York City, London and Italy’s 2018 Chianciano Art Biennale where he won the Leonardo 1st Prize for Photography and Digital Art. In 2019, he was awarded the 2nd Prize in Photography at IPS and at London Art Biennale, and the 3rd Prize Focus on the Story at Washington DC International Photo Festival. In 2020, Morquecho was a winner of LensCulture Critics’ Choice. Several of his images have been published in renowned art books and magazines and are owned by DC government Art Bank Program, the Chianciano Art Museum in Italy, and private art collectors around the world.

Artist Statement

My art captures my own realities—the world as I feel it or imagine it. I have chosen Photography as my art-instrument because it allows me to grasp these “realities” in an instant, without the distortions caused by the passage of time and changing feelings. My images are captured both in black and white and color creating timeless portrayals of my imagination and desires. Although they reflect somehow my Mexican heritage, they seek to break national boundaries and transport the observers to an unidentifiable interior place of great beauty and peace.

What first prompted you to think of becoming an artist?

Although I am a late comer to the artistic world, ever since I was a little boy growing up in small town in central Mexico, I knew that making art would help me search for my voice, my space inside a universe vast and diverse. My Dreams, Life, Imagination, Reality, Fantasy are all inextricably intertwined in my passion to create.

What kind of an artist do you ultimately see yourself?

I strive for my Art to openly capture my own realities, feelings, and desires—the world as I see it or imagine it. I have chosen Photography because it allows me to grasp them in an instant, without the distortions caused by the passage of time and changing feelings from one day to the next.

What are you hoping to communicate to the viewer through your work?

I believe people appreciate the symbolism in my artwork and have managed to see complexity in the simplicity of my images, while seeing their own world reflected in my work. Moreover, my intention as an artist is that people not only see my art but also feel it deeply. Although my images reflect somehow my Mexican heritage, they seek to break national boundaries and transport the observers to an unidentifiable interior place of beauty and peace.

What is your favorite part of the creative process?

The favorite part of my creative process is its flexibility, lack of preconceive forms. I start having in mind something in particular to capture and I prepare the stage and the models accordingly, but along the way new ideas surface and I end up capturing many different aspects, elements of the original notion. This is at the end a very fulfilling process.

Can you give us an insight into current projects and inspiration, or what we can look forward to from you in the near future?

I actually dream many of my projects. I look into my own good and bad experiences to pull the viewer where dark meets light to entice him/her. Thus, I do not plan much into the future. Every day gives me the opportunity to grasp my feelings, my desires and portray them in my images. The world, the reality of what it is going on around me also facilitate and encourage my creativity. Moreover, I find great inspiration in capturing special moments in my large family life, creating images that dance a fine line between being disturbing in a sense but also very pleasing.

Can you explain the process of creating your work?

In my creative work my intention is to establish a fine line that teetered on fantasy and reality, holding a special fairy-tale like quality, facilitating a dynamic conversation among people.

Website: https://manuelmorquecho.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manuel_morquecho_/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/morquecho.art