The photographs of Adriana Lestido They are an unavoidable chapter in the history of art in Argentina. This artist who began her career in the graphic media in the ’80s, she developed, from her first jobs as a reporter; unforgettable projects like “Mothers and daughters” or “Mujeres presas” and, later, series like “El amor” or “México”. His works are part of the main collections in Argentina and the world, and his talent has been recognized with distinctions such as the Guggenheim and Erna and Victor Hasselblad Foundation scholarships in Sweden and, in our country, with the Platinum Konex award and the designation of “Outstanding Personality of Culture” in 2010, among other awards.
One of his most notable projects was “Black Antarctica”, from the year 2012which is exhibited again these days in the Borges Cultural Center. This is the record of a long-awaited trip by Lestido, who wanted to work on the absolute white of the most extreme region of the planet. The paradox of that adventure was that he ended up landing, curiously, on the black surface of Deception Base. The landscape there is never white, because on the island where the Base is located there is an active volcano that melts ice and snow when they settle on the ground. The course of this trip, which was completed at the Camera Base on Half Moon Island, was recorded in the book “Antártida Negra. The newspapers” (Tusquets). There, the photographer stops in the day to day of an extreme experience of cold and loneliness, in the most mysterious geography in the world.
the polar adventure
Just opened in Buenos Aires “Errante”, Lestido’s latest work and his first film, made in the Arctic Circle. The film is subtitled “The Conquest of Home”, and represents the record of four trips that the photographer (already as a filmmaker) made in the four seasons of the year, at Svalbard islands in Iceland and north of Norway. The film was produced by Lita Stantic and Maravillacine and was made in total solitude by the author, without technical equipment or assistance. It represents a step from stillness to movement in the work of Lestido, in a succession of images of mountains, beaches and seas, with the white of winter as a counterpoint to the almost gray green of summer, and the explosion of color of the northern lights. The sound is that of the environment, crossed from time to time by musical themes and punctuated by quotes from authors such as Luis Alberto Spinetta or Frigyes Karinthy.
The project combines two ingredients: meticulous work on images of impeccable composition and the effort that can be sensed behind the camera, of the artist working alone, facing the limits of extreme nature.
An isolated house in a geography of wind and snow, is one of the few human traces in the landscape, in which there are no other living beings than some animals. “The house that appears at the beginning of the film is where I lived for a while, it is in the outskirts of tromso, a small town in the north of Norway -Lestido says when we ask him about the details of his experience-. It is a very basic cabin, located on the sea, surrounded by white and with an incredible view. It is elevated and gives the impression that the sea passes below. In all places I lived alone, I made the trip in absolute solitude, without company or technical support team. There is another little house that also appears in the winter and at the end of the second spring, that one is in Iceland but I did not live there, it is the place where the horses shelter when the weather eases and they are loose. It is right in front of the cabin where I lived, very basic too, small and made of wood, but more pleasant. The incredible view of the sea and the mountains made up for everything. I lived there for three whole months, from the beginning of March to the end of May, full pandemic.”
NEWS: What is the search in the composition of the images shown in the film?
Adriana Lestido: I do not look for meaning through images. I’m not really looking for anything. The purpose of my life is my own evolution as a human being, images and expression are my tool. Which allows me to see and understand something else. In this case, the solo trip responded to a vital need, like everything I do. The images go in that direction.
NEWS: His career began with film studies. Is what follows from here on a path in that language?
Lasting: It could be but I don’t know. I always go step by step. I started my path with the image studying cinema, and although I immediately devoted myself to photography and passionately embraced it as my expressive medium for more than 40 years, cinema was always there latent. It is a medium that I also love, it is present in my life perhaps more than any other. On the other hand, I always worked my photos in series, as visual stories, a bit cinematically. We will see how and where the path continues. I am also working with Guillermo Saccomanno the diaries of the trips to the Arctic. I hope to post them early next year.
NEWS: To watch “Wandering” you have to stop, observe the minimum movements in nature. What is the difference between the images in the film and those in your photograph?
Lasting: They ask for what they also meant to me: greater immersion. Photos can be viewed in flash, connected or not, stopped or not. With the film, once you enter it, you have to let yourself go. To be able to see it, you have to get into its rhythm. Ask for calm, stillness. Stop your head and surrender. It is not to see it anxiously or in a hurry. I know that it goes against these times and that it asks for a delivery to which you have to be willing. What it gives is also in that sense.
NEWS: You have been an unforgettable photographer in your portraits. Will humanity return to her work? Although the horses and goats that appear at the end of the film did very well.
hurt: I had very good actors, yes! I believe that in “Wandering” humanity is present from my own humanity, from the internal journey that I made and from what it provokes in the spectators who surrender and immerse themselves in the film. The human figure is absent but paradoxically that does not take away humanity. All my work has always revolved around life, its pain and its beauty. On the other hand, I believe that animals and the elements of nature -air, wind, earth, fire, water, ice, rain- are the best guides to approach the complexity of existence. For me it is about being able to understand something more about our way of existing, being able to touch the mystery of our life on Earth. I don’t know where my path will follow, it will be where I need it, as always. With or without human presence, I can’t tell. Everything changes all the time, life will tell.
Where to see it: Throughout June at the Malba movie theater.
Image gallery
