Migdalia Valdes
Migdalia Valdes has been working with photography and shooting with her Rolleiflex for over 20 years. During that span, she has studied with Janice Levy in Upstate NY, Linda Conner and Jack Fulton at the San Francisco Art Institute, and worked with master printer Said Nuseibeh and ultimately with internationally acclaimed photographer Ruth Bernhard, who recently past at the age of 101 years.
Valdes photographic work is generated from visual journals that she has maintained since December 1999. For her ongoing project "Everyday", she has been photographing in black & white, medium format, at least one photograph a day. Through her journals she maintains her connection with photography, art and the world in general. Everyday she tries to capture photographically the experiences of the daily repetitions, patterns, and the sometimes mundane, sometimes titillating pace of life.
Through the habit of photographing, a distinctive version of memory has become more real for her. It is a visual memory, kept on paper and object, simultaneously muddying her real memories, while maintaining a personal history. It is with this project, that she is blending public and private space, merging history, repetition, intimacy and time.
Currently, the journals contain images from the day, found papers, news items, and some small objects that she comes across during that day. Occasionally, these things are personal. Usually, they are found pieces from the street, around town, in bars, and just wondering through life. It is by adding and subtracting elements contained with the journals that these books continue to change form.
In describing her approach to her daily photographic work within her Journals, Valdes said, "There are times that I am motivated to photograph and the camera becomes a part of my hand. As well, there are times that I am tired and I can only manage one image, one thought. I found that by making photography an everyday habit, I can feed my photographic hunger without forcefully generating new ideas. I intend to continue this work for the rest of my life."
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