Armendáriz Lorenzo
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Biography
Lorenzo
Armendáriz (Mexico, born 1961) remembers his grandfather's large hands
and rings. He was a tall, dark man who lived in a truck and was called
"El Húngaro" (the Hungarian). He visited him as a child, but only as an
adult did he learn that he was not from Hungary, but part of the Mexican
Roma community. His photographic Project is an inner search for his
personal traces and the portrait of Roma culture, which is little known
in Latin America despite its centuries-old presence. The project emerged
from this restlessness. Since 1995, Armendáriz has built up a
photographic archive of the lives of some Roma families in Mexico.
There, he has used his camera to capture the lives and memories of the
LUDAR. This group, originating from the former Romania, came to Mexico
at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century and integrated
themselves into Mexican society by performing on the streets, trading
and running travelling cinemas. It was nomadic families who travelled
much of the Mexican territory in the 50s, 60s and 70s. This memory of
wandering is what Lorenzo photographed, where the journey is not an
escape but a way of life to exist and affirm oneself. His black and
white images delve into the lives and histories of Roma families,
playing with shadows, reflections and atmospheres to make the
photographs vivid, contextualised documents that aim to break down
stereotypes.