The Food Hall on the ground floor of the San Marino Shopping Centre in Guayaquil is hosting the exhibition ‘Destination: New York, in Black and White’ for two weeks. Curated by FADCOM lecturer Daniel Castelo, the exhibition brings together ten photographs depicting everyday life, the contrasts and the different ways of experiencing one of the most photographed cities in the world. The exhibition forms part of ‘Espacios ADC Itinerantes’, an initiative by ESPOL’s Faculty of Art, Design and Audiovisual Communication (FADCOM) which aims to bring the creative work of its lecturers and students to new venues across the city, making academic output accessible to a wider audience.
Through ten black-and-white photographs, Castelo explores the elements that shape the daily rhythm of New York: journeys, pauses, shadows, façades, unfamiliar faces and small scenes that appear and disappear amongst its streets. In this project, the use of black and white does not seek to transport New York into the past, but rather to capture the contemporary experience of the city. By dispensing with colour, the photographs focus attention on light, textures, contrasts, geometry and, in particular, the relationships that arise between people and the urban space.
«Destination: New York, in Black and White» thus explores the existence of multiple cities within a single city. The experience changes depending on the time of day, the neighbourhood, the weather and the perspective of the passer-by. Through a brief selection of images, Castelo invites us to pause and reflect on these variations, and to observe New York from a more intimate and human perspective. Daniel Castelo is a lecturer at FADCOM, teaching Digital Photography and the Illustration Workshop. His participation in the ADC Travelling Exhibitions enables part of the Faculty’s artistic and academic output to be brought to a space where it can engage with the community, creating new opportunities to showcase processes, perspectives and proposals developed at ESPOL.
The exhibition can be visited from Monday to Sunday, from 10.00 to 21.00, during the two weeks it will be open to the public in the Food Hall of the San Marino Shopping Centre. This initiative forms part of a collaboration between ESPOL and San Marino, aimed at bringing the creative work produced by the academy closer to the Guayaquil community. Photography marks the launch of this collaborative space, which will subsequently incorporate other disciplines taught at ESPOL, including illustration, painting and design. Castelo’s project will be continued in a forthcoming photobook entitled ‘Destination: New York’, conceived as an expanded version of the exhibition and an opportunity to explore in greater depth the different ways of experiencing and representing the city.
© Photography and Text: José Luis Castro
