Araceli Paz

Born: Santiago, Chile — January, 1986 / Living: Mexico City, MX

Interview by Philo Cohen — January 2020

Philo Cohen for Speciwomen: Could you talk a little about how you found your path and how you are comfortable in what you are doing today?

Araceli Paz: I first wanted to study art and my family didn't allow me to because they told me I was going to starve, that I wasn’t going to be successful and that they were going to have to maintain me for the rest of my life. So, that's why I decided to enter graphic design school. I liked it. I can't complain, but I felt like I always wanted to be good enough. And for me it was always about being the best in what you do. If not, just move aside. So, that's why I felt like I needed to follow my instinct. So, after graphic design I decided to study photography, but not the professional course. Instead I took the technical one which was much shorter and because I had the preparation of semantics and communication and perception already from graphic design. It took two years and the first year was common for everyone and the second year you had to decide if you wanted to focus on documentary or publicity. 

I've always dreamed about being a documentarian. I wanted to participate in the World Press Photo. That was my dream at the time. I was not that young so I started to think about the money. In Chile, to be a documentary photographer the only chance to work in that field was to work in a newspaper. I was like, I don't want to take pictures of the politicians or celebrities going out at restaurants. I don’t want that, and on the other hand, I started to recognize myself as a very shy person. So, I thought that working on inanimate things, objects — I thought it was going to be easier for me, but when I started working I realized that I had to deal with a lot of people too and a lot of egos. That's why I naturally moved to the food industry because I had my background with my parents’ restaurant. I don't know where it came from, I think I feel like somehow the thing we were talking about. 

Sometimes you’re not aware that you're saving things in your mind. When I wanted to study art because I was really interested, one of the most vivid memories I have was the first time I was at the Museo del Prado in Madrid. When I saw the Las Meninas from Velasquez at a distance I started to cry, I was ten years old. I stared at that for fifteen minutes and my parents were like come on. That kind of light in that period of the art really got stuck in my head and I am almost all the time am inspired by that kind of light. One that is natural light and I think that is how that emerged as my style. 

PC: Your work feels anthropologically rooted in Mexican culture, tell me more about this?

AP:  A couple months ago I started to go to a Punto therapist. In one of our first sessions he asked me, “You’re not Mexican right?” And I said, “No I'm not.” He continues, “You've been here a long time, since you were a child?” “No, I've been here for 5 or 6 years.” And he responded with, “You came here when you were a child? No? Well you feel like you’re Mexican? Somehow your soul is really moving and connected to this place, you are Mexican, but born somewhere else.” 

PC: So some connection outside of yourself?

AP: Yes, and I don’t know. It is really visionary with this kind of stuff. When Enrique [Olivera] asked me to come, he knew it would be easy for me to feel comfortable here. He was telling me he really wanted me to show Mexico from an outsider, but at the same time he wanted to feel really Latin American. And I think we made that the feeling of the book. 

PC: Why did he want something from Mexico and not from a more global perspective?

AP: Sometimes when someone is rooted in some place, it happens to me too, they are not able to see the greatness of their country because you are seeing it everyday. It feels a bit informed.

PC: Can you speak a little bit about the construction of an image and having it look like you want it to impress or amaze, to go beyond what the object is?

AP: I'm very meticulous. I'm really concentrating on the details of everything. I’m very structured, but it's something like that comes naturally now. Maybe at the beginning it was not that natural, but now when I’m composing a picture it's very out of me for me. It's not that I'm thinking of it. But, you can't force it. I'm not truly creating anything, I'm just photographing it. I'm always trying to photograph what I see. I'm not a very creative person actually. If you ask me to invent something from scratch, it's never easy for me. I'm more of the kind of person who goes to a place and amazes herself with what it is.

PC: How do you cope with that, being away from your camera?

AP: It has been a very personal process, but I think that those solitude moments are very helpful for when you really need to grab the camera and do the job. And not only about photography, but you have to learn to enjoy a concert, a movie, or even a meal without fucking taking pictures you know? That is very helpful because your brain doesn't forget those things. Even if you don't take the picture right away of that particular moment it doesn’t matter. It sticks to your brain and when you do get the chance to photograph those things that you saw without photographing them somehow becomes something like an inspiration for the job you are about to do. The other thing that happened to me is that I learned that while you are doing the photography the reason why you are feeling stressed is because you didn't get the chance to take that particular photograph earlier. Because you want someone else to tell you “Oh my god your picture is fucking great. It's amazing and you captured that amazingly,” but you probably think you're great. You have your personal picture in your brain and you don't need to show it off.

PC: Does that change, for example, when you go to the mercados? 

AP: I’m always feeling like I'm losing moments. One of the things that happens when you work in photography, and you are not doing it as a hobby, is that you don't like being without your camera next to you all the time. Because I get tired, I need to rest most of the time. But I am losing moments. I wish I had a camera on me, but at the same time, those resting moments are very important for my creative process too. To be able to see through without my camera just to see.