Tracy Schmid  Artist Post #4

Alejandro Cartagena  Carpoolers

1.  Alejandro Cartagena is a Mexican photographer. His series entitled "Carpoolers" was a series of Mexicans heading to find work. These pictures were taken on a highway that goes from Mexico City to Laredo Texas.  The winter of 2011 he stood by the highway and pointing his lens at the passing cars. He was taking pictures of the Mexicans piled into the back of the trucks and flatbeds being taken across the border to find honest work.  Alejandro did this in an effort to share this world with others, something that bordered between public and private. "When I started to take pictures from this point of view that just made a whole different thing open up, because theres issues of intimacy or privacy being expressed in public space, " said Mr. Cartagena. "There's a sense of the invisibility of reality of so many people in Mexico that is popping out because of the images." His inspiration for this series of photos stemmed from a project he had done at an earlier time.

2.  The reason he wanted to get these photos out is because there is such a big difference between the rich and poor in Mexico. He wanted people to see that in the back of the flat beds and trucks hard workers, doing whatever is necessary to maintain legitimate jobs, pay mortgages, and survive. It was very important for him to share this with the world so you could see how the other half lives and to prove that everyone from Mexico is not involved with drugs.

3. I am not sure what camera or camera settings were used to take these pictures. Without the background and knowing why he took the pictures I had lots of questions. I did not see these as pictures you would want to share. I did not understand why so many pictures of men in the back of truck. I have seen this many times over the years but I never thought about taking a picture of it. This is one of those series that is more informative than artistic.