valentin almanza

VALENTIN ALMANZA is a photographer from Guanajuato, Mexico who has been living in Sacramento for the last four years. He has participated in several collective exhibitions in Sacramento and in Guanajuato, México. LA MUERTE EN VIDA is his first solo show.

The idea of Death is an important aspect of Mexican culture, due in part to the indigenous traditions that are integral to Mexican society. As you can see through Día de los muertos festivities, which are lively and colorful, Death is not viewed as something negative in Mexican culture. On the contrary, it is seen as a natural part of life’s cycle.

This series is inspired in part by the character of La Calavera Catrina, a work by Jose Guadalupe Posada (a Mexican printmaker in the early 20^th century) as well as the motivation of Valentín Almaza to represent Death’s presence in everyday things and daily life.

These pictures were taken in the summer of 2012 in the city of Guanajuato, Mexico, and commemorate the 100^th anniversary of Jose Guadalupe Posada’s work. La Muerte en Vida explores the death of customs, situations and ideas in contemporary Mexico that from the artist’s perspective are ending or transforming into a new cycle.