Sergio Valenzuela Escobedo/ Mänk'áčen

The Yagan people once existed in the southern islands of Tierra del Fuego, South America. They called the photograph "Toumayacha Alakana". It means "to cover your head with a veil", and this expression is the origin of Sergio Valenzuela Escobedo's work and led to the completion of his thesis on photography.
In the 19th century, the Fuegians, who saw the first camera with a photographic operator arriving in South America in 1840, gave this name to the act of photography. Why did the local people name this new image object? How was this unknown tool received? What does it mean to be seen with a veil?
 
This collection of European photographs of the Americas left by our ancestors testifies to the country's social and political background in relation to colonialism and 'indigenous' communities. The latter have partially lost their cultural, economic and territorial autonomy.
But they are not just about the use of technology, but also about the knowledge and beliefs that characterize the cultures of these peoples at the "end of the world," and the conditioning of our views and knowledge of these peoples. It also witnesses an unprecedented history of Native American Indians were reluctant to be photographed, especially "because it robs them of their souls," a colonial myth, and this Western belief has given value to the images brought back by explorers. Ta. In fact, the problem of rejecting cameras is much more complex and varied. . Resistance can be about photography, about self-image cycles, about the one-way nature of transactions, about misunderstandings about cameras, and about political and spiritual consequences.
 
Mänk'áčen ("Shadow Hunter" in Yagan) introduces the research results of artist/researcher/curator Sergio Valenzuela Escovedo, and draws on the archives of folklore to explore "mystical mechanisms." It demonstrates the thesis of existence.
 
* There is no problem in viewing, but there is some damage to the corners during air transportation. Please note.
Publisher: Palais Books
Publication year: 2022
Number of pages pages: 40
Size size: 340x240mm
Format format: Softcover Leporello
Language language: French English Spanish
attachment:
State condition: New
First edition of 1100 copies