Among the Authors

When Daniel and I went to the Jardin Botanico (Botanical Garden) yesterday they had a photography exhibit by a Venezuelan photographer named Vasco Szinetar. I guess for a long time his practice was to take photos of famous living authors. He puts himself in the photo by the simple method of photographing in the mirror. I do this myself from time to time.

I did it earlier on this trip.

Szinetar's photos were made into big posters that were waterproof, since the exhibit was mounted on a wall outdoors. It made for a very nice introduction to famous S. American authors. Most were unfamiliar to me and I realized how generally ignorant I am of S. American literature.

The photos appeared to be hung chronologically, so you could see the photographer age in the photos. Also, he made funny faces when he was younger, but then got serious as he got older. At the end of the exhibit he stops being in the pictures entirely and goes back to being the unseen operator of the camera. If you are interested you can see his photos here.

Daniel and I decided that we wanted to get into a few of these pictures too, of authors that we like: Jorge Luis Borges, Alvaro Mutis, and Roberto Bolano.