Today I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Gerardo Nigenda, a blind Mexican photographer whose work will be on display this month in Mexico City. During my initial research on Nigenda and his work, I read a few blog posts of journalists or artists who'd met with him and reported with such overwhelming and generous praise that I nearly rolled my eyes. But since I've met with him, I can understand why.
We sat in a small, quiet garden this afternoon within the very large home of another artist in Coyoacán, the smaller, more colonial part of D.F. We talked about the technical aspects of his work - how he takes photographs without a visual point of reference, his preferred artistic concepts, etc.
The most inspiring point of our conversation, however, had nothing to do with the plot of a Lifetime movie, a blind man defying artistic conventions and societal expectations and everyone weeping with inspiration as the credits roll down the screen. It really just came from him talking about his take on life, completely aside from his blindness, and about finding the positive in every situation. He didn't even really have to say anything, his personality just radiates warmth, and it put a little skip in my step afterward as I headed towards a 3-peso 'pesero,' a smaller, more ghetto version of your childhood schoolbus. He said he makes up for his lack of vision by igniting his other senses; he orients himself by sound, smell and touch, and he's inspired to take pictures when he feels deeply moved by the way these elements reach him.Maybe I'm biased because we share a love of bossa nova music and the ocean, and my inability to speak Spanish during interviews is more or less a social handicap. But inappropriate comments aside, it was a great interview. I'll post the story Monday!
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