Elusive and cryptic, the term attributed to Jacques Derrida that he developed through Critical Theory, implies a process to dismantle texts, ideas, and structures revealing hidden meanings and internal inconsistencies. Derrida argued that texts have multiple interpretations and that understanding them, depends on the deconstruction of established prejudices and structures.
To deconstruct can be illustrated with a simple visual metaphor: the transformation of a perfect glass object into something else by being intentionally broken. Each fragment, although separated from the whole, reflects a part of the original to introduce new forms that, although apparently, each one broken constitutes a new whole that did not exist before.
Photographing these fractions creates a new image of them, a representation that does not depend on the individual pieces, but on how they are staged to be interpreted as a whole. This action symbolizes not only the physical transformation of a crystal, but also in the viewer's gaze as destruction? or reconstruction?
To Deconstruct is not exactly: to fragment, to destroy or to tear down, it is perhaps a way to reveal an inner new which was hidden to show new ways to be and to be perceived.
The images in this exhibition invite us to break with our original perceptions, to question our certainties, and consciously reconstruct our world in the World.
In both cases, both in that of the glass and that of the viewer, the series testifies that there are new ways of seeing and understanding what we once considered complete and immutable.
Omar Torres
Omar Torres, Mexico City. Graduated from the Active School of Photography, with studies at Casa del Lago UNAM and Photography Direction at the Cineteca Nacional, he has a master's degree in Visual Arts from the University of Art and Design of Kyoto, Japan.
His work explores human emotions through everyday objects that he transforms into visual metaphors through the installations that he stages for the camera. His visual compositions reminiscent of Hiroshi Sugimoto, Rebeca Horn and Lucio Fontana have allowed him to develop his own style with deep symbolic loads.
His individual exhibitions include: Colapso at the Chancery Museum (2023) and Ensayos del Colapso at the Credit Suisse Group México Gallery (2019), both presented by Ricardo Reyes; and Emociones at Enrique Guerrero Gallery (2023). He has participated in more than 80 group exhibitions around the world, including the United States, Mexico, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, Costa Rica and Japan.
Omar Torres has won the Kameyama Triennale prize in Japan in 2022, First Place, IP International Photography Prize, honorable mention for Ensayos del Colapso, Gold prize for Prix de la Photographie in Paris in 2021, bronze for Moscow International Foto Award
