Reality, fiction not as clear-cut as they may appear

"I think it's very important for people to realize that images are not a representation of reality," Pedro Meyer says. "The sooner that myth is destroyed and buried, the better for society all around."

His contention that all photographs, digitally manipulated or not, are equally "true" and "untrue" has been labeled "heretical" in the orthodox documentary photography community. Meyer's Heresies, an elegant exhibit of large digital photographs, is currently on display at IMAS.

Meyer is as renowned for his powerful and provocative photographs as he is for the pioneering work with digital imaging. The photographs in this exhibit reflect both approaches. He refers to them as truths and fictions. This concept began in 1993, hailing a new direction in photography.

Several black and white portraits in traditional documentary style are mesmerizing. I do not use this term loosely. Images of Rufino Tamayo, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Alicia Alonzo kept me staring at the photographs trying to visually identify their emotional power.

With the advent of digital photography in the early 1990s, Meyer evolved from a documentary photographer into a "digital documentarian" who often combines photographic elements from disparate times and places to arrive at what he perceives as a different or higher truth.

The digital image, "The Case of the Missing Painting from the Alter," contrasts the Spanish religious heritage with that of the indigenous people, representing a conflict of belief.

"The Temptation of the Angel," a color digital print taken at Magdalena Jaltepec Oaxaca, combines an image of a young girl dressed as a Christian angel looking away as the apparition of a curandera approaches across a chessboard. Does the girl really believe in this imported religion or is it superficial?

Meyer is producing icons that are closer to human experience than documentary photography. To accomplish this, the computer became an extension of his camera, a digital darkroom to manipulate his shots and to create a series of iconic images that are closer to memory than instantaneous experience. These images combine his interpretations, symbols, and archetypes. They explore inner life. The black and white images shot in the United States are truths; the realism puts them there, yet they are also metaphorical. The majority of color images taken in Mexico are fiction. He reveals human feeling and emotion under layers of images.

In an interview with Scott Rosenberg, Meyer said, "We don't trust words because they're words, but we trust pictures because they're pictures. That's crazy - it takes away our responsibility to investigate the truth for ourselves, to approach images with care and with caution."

The photographic works from "Heresies," sponsored by the Mexican Consulate, are part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Tamaulipas (MACT).

Nancy Moyer, PhD, is the art critic for Festiva. She is an independent artist living in McAllen and may be reached at nmoyer@rgv.rr.com