Tell us about where you grow up. What kind of place it was?

Camilo Echavarría (CE): I grew up in the city of Medellín. Its altitude is 1550 mts. above sea level, so the climate is ideal all year long. It has always been called "the city of eternal spring". I traveled a lot to the countryside when young. Medellín is surrounded by mountains and the tropical Cauca river valley is just 50 miles away. In a two hour drive, you go through all types of climates and vegetations. Those childhood road trips marked me.

Medellín Valley, Illustration by A. Neuville in 'Fabulous Colombia's Geography - the New Grenade as Seen By Two French Travelers of the XIX Century' - Charles Saffray & Edouard Andre, 1869.

And then photography. How it all started? What are your memories of your first shots?

CE: I was about thirteen years old when I took my early shots. On a road trip to Villa de Leiva, a colonial town in the department of Boyacá, located in the middle of a semi-desertic area surrounded by a plateau carpeted with potato and wheat crops. The town is in the middle of semi-arid environment. I borrowed my mother's camera and started taking photographs on this trip. A couple years later I took some more on a trip with my parents to Brazil and Argentina. I took pictures of landscapes, nature close-ups, and bikini-clad girls at Copacabana beach. When I started to photograph on my own, most of my photographs were taken during trips to natural parks and reserves in Colombia.

Laguna del Otún, 1989

What about your educational background? 

CE: Around the time I started taking pictures I enrolled a professional certificate program in photography at Yurupary, a local liberal arts institute. My teacher, William Arango lent me some books of Paul Strand and few West Coast photographers he had brought from New York. These books, plus a couple of others of European masters and a few amateur magazines that I crossed every now and then where my only reference for quite a while. When I was twenty-eight I decided to dedicate completely to photography and registered in a one-year Resident Program in Photography at the Maine Media Workshops. Brenton Hamilton, its director, taught us the history of photography and craft. The history course really fascinated me, it felt like entering through some kind of portal into a completely unknown universe. Brenton's passion for history made this course so much fun and interesting. My previous knowledge of photography's history was scant, so I devoured every bit of information. I came in touch with and learned to appreciate the work of some American post-civil war expeditionists to uncharted western territories such as Timothy O'Sullivan, William H. Jackson, and A. J. Russel and a few early European travel photographers such as Samuel Bourne and the Bisson Brothers. Spending numerous hours in the lab trying out multiple combinations of papers, chemistry and processes were decisive for understanding how important the correlation between craft and concept is.

The Manirung Pass, Samuel Bourne, albumen print, 1860's, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A few years later I had another fantastic teacher at the Florida International University MFA program. I studied two more semesters of photography history with professor Bill Maguire. He was poignant and critical in his assertions and taught his students to not take anything for granted. His insights on what could and could not be art in regards to photography were lucid. I learned from him to build my confidence and to think independently. The time spent during my MFA studies at FIU was also influential for understanding contemporary art in the context of art history and the key to connect my practice to the present moment in art, as well as find myself as an artist. At the time of entering the MFA, I was kind of saturated by the weight of the photographic tradition since it had become a conceptual straight jacket to me. I benefited a lot from the interdisciplinary character of a program in fine arts and not just photography. Having the chance of taking courses such as Shamanic Culture and Pre-Columbian Art with Manny Torres was mind-opening. Sharing with artists, practicing different disciplines was very enriching, it was liberating to open new doors. Axis Mundi, my first video installation, was made during the MFA.

'Axis Mundi', photography based video-installation, 13:02 min. loop, variable dimensions, 2003-2006

How would you introduce yourself as an author or describe your personal methodology? Can you introduce to the series/work Atlas of the Andes. What are the basic motivations and assumptions of this project?

CE: Even though I approached seriously my photographic practice from early on, it took me some time to connect myself with my preoccupations as an artist. It was only when I started this project, almost ten years ago, that I felt I was really making a relevant work. Ideas about landscape representation started to lurk inside my head during my years in Miami. When returning to Colombia, I felt the need to continue my graduate education so I enrolled in a master's degree program in art history upon my return. I decided that my thesis project on subjectivity and idealism in landscape representation was going to be the starting point for my art practice. Upon graduation, I started to travel around my country with this project in mind. Its was titled Illustrated Landscapes back then.

Sunset at the Tropics (Message to Frederic E. Church), archival pigment print, 60 x 76 inches, 2011.

After spending a few years into this project I realized that its scope went beyond historical and pictorial issues and that I was interested also in photography's inherent descriptive attributes and it's capacity to record detailed information. I noticed that what defined as "landscapes" several of my works was not necessarily their pictorial and formal attributes. I discovered that some landscapes could stand without many of these qualities and that the accurate description of a place's topographical, botanical and climatic components were increasingly relevant for what I wanted to convey at that moment. I was also attracted to the idea of exploring how my work could be relevant in other realms beyond art. On the other hand, as the number of works added up, a linear sequence was falling short as a strategy to present the pictures and other classification methods were going to be necessary. I decided to change the project's title to Atlas of the Andes in anticipation of such a challenge but also as a way of redirecting my intentions. 

Buritaca, Meeting of the Sierra Nevada waters with the Caribbean Ocean, archival pigment print, 48 x 96 inches, 2015.

Coastal Grassland, Message to Claude Lorraine, archival pigment print, 40 x 48 inches. 2011.

Umpalá River Rocky Canyon en Route to Barichara, archival pigment print, 40 x 48 inches, 2012.

About the Atlas how did you choose and plan your journeys and locations? What is your opinion regarding the preservation of these beautiful and natural contexts?

CE: My first trips upon my return to Colombia were motivated by a need to revisit several places I had visited when young. I was also curious about places described in Humboldt's writings, some of them were familiar to me but I had not visited them before. Several destinations were chosen out of the curiosity of seeing with my own eyes places I had seen in pictures. A picture of a foggy pigmy tree forest found on a friend's desk (I was seduced by him referring to it as an enchanted forest ) or another one in a book about Colombian ecosystems (Cascada Bedón) where enough for planning a trip around each one. I chose Ecuador after making a trip to Puracé Volcano and the Nariño department on the south-western corner of Colombia out of curiosity about seeing what the landscape across the border looked like and wanting to visit the Chimborazo Volcano, and the rest of Ecuador's volcanic chain (Cotopaxi, Sangay, Cayambe). The trip to Perú was a natural continuation along the Andes. I was also curious about the desertic surface along the Pacific coast, the White Mountains chain and pre-colonial settlements.

Afternoon Fog over the Andes, in search of the enchanted forest, archival pigment print, 40 x 48 inches, 2011.

Pigmy forest near Puracé Volcano, Botanical observations, downstream, Message to Thomas Joshua Cooper, archival pigment print, 60 x 76 inches, 2012.

Cotopaxi, After Humboldt, archival pigment print, 48 x 60 inches, 2014.

Panoramic View of the Cauca River Valley and La Pintada Twin Peaks from El Porvenir Cattle Ranch, archival pigment print, 60 x 76 inches, 2014.

At the moment I choose to embark on a trip I draw a plan with the help of maps and satellite images from Google Earth. The thousands of Panoramio snapshots available on this platform were very useful (they no longer exist) to have a visual reference of different places I was not familiar with. I trace a flexible itinerary planning to stay on each place either one night or two, and traveling during mid-day hours no more than 100-200 miles. I choose places where I can spend the night inside my car, I travel with a cooler, a stove and a small sleeping mat.

Mountain viewed from Punta Olímpica, White Mountains, Perú, 9'06'38.20" S 77'32'31.78" W. 3965 - 4914 m.a.s.l., form Google Earth.

Mountain viewed from Punta Olímpica, White Mountains, Perú, 9'06'38.20" S 77'32'31.78" W. 3965 - 4914 m.a.s.l., archival pigment print, 48 x 60 inches, 2016.

Regarding my view on the conservation of these places, I believe we first need to love something we want to preserve, and we cannot love anything that we are not well acquainted with. One of my goals in this project is to visually account for many places that have not been sufficiently approached through art.

Passage du Quindiu, Dans la Cordillère des Andes, Colored engraving by Christian Traugott Duttenhofer according to drawing by Joseph Anton Koch based on sketch made by Alexander von Humboldt, published on "Vues des Cordillères, et monumens des peuples indigenes de l'Amérique", 1810.

Geography of Plants in Tropical Countries: An Image of the Nature of the Andes, Pictorial representation based in drawing by Alexander von Humboldt, 1805.

You made interesting research about romanticism and the American landscapes of the explorer Alexander Von Humboldt. What drove you into this? And what were the main outcomes of your research?

CE: When choosing the topic of my master's thesis project I was initially interested in developing some concepts regarding the idea of photography as an instrument of persuasion. Yet I realized it would have been a very abstract endeavor. I reminded myself that the reason for entering this program was for it to be a foundation for my practice as an artist, so why not direct my research towards something that could be the starting point of a specific project? I had always been curious about traveler artists and thought that by delving deeper into this subject I would find some context and depth for my interest in nature. I focused on the presence of subjectivity and idealism in landscape representations that accompanied Alexander von Humboldt's writings of his travels in South America. During this exploration, I discovered how significant it was for Humboldt to combine both a scientific and an aesthetic approach when observing nature in order to understand the interrelatedness of its multiple components.

Sangay, Ascent to Laguna Negra, Pacific watershed, Ecuador, archival pigment print, 60 x 76 inches, 2015.

Sangay, Descent to Macas, Amazonian watershed, Ecuador, archival pigment print, 48 x 90 inches, 2015.

Tundra Lagoon, ascent to Puracé Volcano Summit, archival inkjet print, 40 x 48 inches, 2012.

Settlement, en Route to Chavín de Huantar, archival pigment print, 48 x 60 inches, 2016.

In Quinta de Bolivar you reflect on the representation of the landscape through the reconstruction of the domestic setting which Simón Bolivar inhabited during his various stays throughout his liberation campaign. Tell us more about this work? And thoughts behind it...

CE: I proposed this project when applying for a Ministry of Culture grant/prize in my country. Applicants had to choose one among ten predetermined exhibition spaces and submissions should address the physical and historical context of each of these places. Quinta de Bolivar is a house-museum that recreates the domestic space of a small villa Simón Bolivar stayed at during his visits to Bogotá. When visiting the house I noticed that all the furniture and decorative objects had a European origin or style and only a few of the domestic amenities such as the cabuya rugs and a few embalmed birds exhibited in glass capsules accounted for the territory Bolivar had liberated. I decided to propose a substitution of the actual paintings on the walls (mainly portraits and a few historical paintings) with landscapes from Atlas of the Andes. My intention was to expand the museographic script of the place so that the physical components of the Colombian territory were visible. Bolivar was a tireless traveler who went back and forth between Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, and Bolivia several times. He knew first hand the people and the land he was fighting for and was very aware of how necessary it was for the Neogranadian people to acknowledge their territory if freedom from Spanish dominance was to be achieved. It was precisely Humboldt, whom Bolivar met in Paris when young, who unintentionally challenged him by manifesting that Spanish colonies in South America were ripe for being liberated but the man for the task had yet to arise. Both men were clearly convinced that a nation could not exist without a deep knowledge of its territory by its inhabitants. These insights have been crucial for me to understand the implications of my work not only in the context of art but also in a broader cultural milieu.

Chimborazo, After Humboldt, archival pigment print, 48 x 60 inches, 2014.

Slashed forest, Coquí, Chocó, archival pigment print, 52 x 94 inches, 2018.

Four books (not only of photography) that you recommend in relation to the project 'Atlas of the Andes'?

CE: Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation, by Mary Louise Pratt; Travelling Light: Photography, Travel and Visual Culture, by Peter Osborne; Alejandro de Humboldt: Del catálogo al paisaje, by Alberto Castrillón and El Paisaje: Génesis de un concepto, by Javier Maderuelo.

Fast interconnections and instant sharing. How this is affecting the role of a photographer and your own practice?

CE: Since the beginning of times, technological advances have always been a double-edged sword, and that includes digital media. On the bright side, Internet tools allow me to circulate my work outside the physical realm, which helps me build new connections and access new audiences. It is also a great tool for research. The downside of this information tsunami lies in the algorithms that fuel social media and search tool dynamics which can make sharing information a somewhat endogamic experience. This "crossbreeding" effect can become a great enemy of curiosity and creativity. The right amount of information can open one's perspective but too much of it might close it. A good example to illustrate this idea has to do with the popularity in Europe of travel photography in Egypt during the early second half of the nineteenth century. Peter Osborne writes in his book on travel photography and visual culture about Francis Frith and Maxime Ducamp, who photographed places in Egypt that were first illustrated by artists that accompanied Napoleon's military invasions. When European travelers followed Frith's and Ducamp's footsteps, their idea of Egypt was already made up according to these popular pictures. They knew exactly what to see and how to interpret it long before disembarking. Too much information wipes out mysteries, and life without these can be quite dull. What is there left to discover when we have seen it all?

The Great Pyramid, from the Plain, Francis Frith, albumen print, 1857, The Getty Museum.

What do you think about photography in the era of digital and social networking? How is the language evolving and impacting the daily life of people and communities in your opinion?

CE: In general terms, there is always going to be a conflict between individuals wanting information to be exchanged more freely and powerful institutions and corporations thinking otherwise. However, this is something I really don't think too much about.

I guess it's more practical to answer this question from personal experience regarding my practice as an artist. I consider Instagram very practical for sharing news about my work and images I like in connection to it. I also post news about my work on Facebook but try to stay away from it. FB is like a black hole that sucks you in, obliterating almost all notion of time passing. For this reason, I decided to not follow more than thirty accounts on Instagram at any given moment since I started using it. I get distracted easily.

I also have mixed feelings regarding how art is disseminated on the web. I think that the sheer quantity of information we are exposed to and speed at which it circulates is changing not only the way we engage with art but also the quality of the art that is being produced. At the moment I'm not really curious about following contemporary art through webpages and e-mail bulletins. Most of what I see looks all the same, I sometimes get the feeling that lots of the art showed around just makes the white noise louder, but maybe that's ok, I guess there has always been bad art around and it's just because of so many media outlets that nowadays it's more visible. It is also exasperating to look at pretty sterile art opportunistically "explained" with dense philosophic dissertations and validated with whatever trending discourse comes at hand at the moment. It worries me that emerging generations of young artists are swallowing everything they see without chewing and digesting it, just to regurgitate meaningless work and continue feeding the digital media beast in an endless vicious cycle. Politically correct is everything that art should not be.

Is there any show you’ve seen recently that you find inspiring?

CE: A few months ago I visited Machine Visions by Trevor Paglen at the Museo Tamayo in México City. It's absolutely marvelous to see how visually abstracts concepts such as non-photographic picture construction, image search mechanics, surveillance and artificial intelligence are materialized into beautiful, insightful and conceptually brilliant works of art.

Shoshone Falls. Hough Transform; Haar, 2017. Silver Gelatin Print, 48 x 60 inches., Trevor Paglen, Metro Pictures, New York.

What are you up to?

CE: I plan to "fill in" some blanks in Colombia by visiting the Eastern Plains the Guajira Peninsula and the Amazon region, and, in the near future, I would like to travel to the Andes Mountains between Chile and Argentina. Organizing and classifying the works made so far with the idea of an "Atlas" in mind is also a huge challenge that needs a lot of work!

Ancón, Antropocene, pigment inkjet print, 48 x 60 inches, 2014

Ruin, Message to Jacob van Ruisdael, 1654 or 1655, archival pigment print, 48 x 60 inches, 2018

Rainstorm aproaching Paramo de Sumapaz, archival pigment print, 56 x 86 inches, 2018.

Sunrise over the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta an Palomino River, archival pigment print, 60 x 80 inches, 2011.

LINKS
Camilo Echavarría