DAVID MARES
Photojournalism
I am a political scientist who studies international conflict and globalization, and a photographer who studies the common threads that draw humanity together across the warp and woof of difference, while celebrating the endurance of cultural traditions. Not only in Latin America, but around the world, I seek the artifacts of daily living: the Japanese fishmonger, the Chinese oarsman, the Senegalese teacher; the celebrations that punctuate life, whether in the streets of Ecuador, or the main Shinto temple in Tokyo; and the contemplation and peace some find in the religious life from Romania to China.
At the start of the twenty-first century we fear the homogeneity sweeping the world from its North American center, and the violence that pits culture against culture. These images, caught between past and future, help us think about our losses and our gains.
The images themselves are spare. A strong geometry lends focus to the essential elements. My long lens enables me to enter into the intimacy of others’ lives, if only for 1/125th of a second. The captured moment grows with each eye that absorbs the image. Distinct moments from different lives culminate in a vision that we are not outsiders, but partners in a shared and consequential experiment.