Literature and Desire was conceived with the intention of creating a graphic encyclopedia of erotic Mexican poets and authors.
At first I thought that it would be difficult to convince them to pose with a young nude model. Nevertheless, the first to accept was the multiprizewinner Juan Garcia Ponce, one of our greatest artists, a consummate writer, who participated with great enthusiasm, despite being confined in a wheelchair. The photo session took place at his home, whereas subsequent sessions with other authors and poets were held at my studio. Each session lasted several hours and each of my “guests” took either an active or passive role on the set. During each session I was looking to capture special moments, shafts of light cast on a semi-dark backdrop. I took hundreds of photographs in each session from which I selected several for the exhibition. The project quickly gathered pace. With authors being my subjects and with me being a literary editor, it was inevitable that both elements would merge. Thus, the idea of creating an erotic collection came to being, a collection in which the author’s words would alternate with my photographs, in which the authors themselves were the actors, their own image illustrating their work. This is only the beginning, ahead of us lies a wealth of opportunity. In a world in which hypocrisy, censorship and hypocritical Puritanism seem to flourish, there are still those who wish to exercise their right to assert their way of life and to defend pleasure that can only be enjoyed in a free world. Many people of all generations declare themselves openly in this exhibition. What sets the subjects apart is that they are all renowned literary artists who have enriched our culture. They provide hope for the expansion of civilization and freedom and for our right to pleasure, hedonism and happiness.
Alejandro Zenker
Literature and desire
A project in which photography goes with words and words with photography; a project that is the body of literature and the literature of the body.
“Alejandro Zenker called upon authors, poets, story tellers and artists to photograph them in front, behind and around a naked woman, as a representation of the incarnation of their desire, as provocation and as stimulation. We are looking at something that is virtually impossible: entering a mysterious world in which we can only guess, but never prove; where our creative impulse comes to the fore. We were invited to a world apart, A world between day and night, between subject and object, Between sleep and wakefulness, and our presence there Created a certain feeling of comfort, of uncertainty, of silence. The photographer, the author, the model: religious artists in a world in which the old ideas of metaphysics and aestheticism have been overshadowed. The men wear the masks of famous authors. Our task is to take another look. This exercise in photography is a succession of hypothesis and replicas, and questions interrupted every now and then by hallucinations that make no sense. A type of suspension, vacuum, silence, trance. In these photographs, authors have been turned into fantastic beings that have no link at all with the real people with whom they are involved. With their body full of voluptuous laxity, the authors portrayed in these photographs encapsulate desire, joy and human shame. They resemble snow from the outside and fire from the inside. They do not know how to love, but they are always loving. Alejandro Zenker has created this ambience and has surrounded it visibly and invisibly. The light is low and intimate. The artist gets up as if he were awakening. She covers herself. The lights are turned out. They leave the room. Darkness and helplessness return.”
Gustavo Sainz