We carpool therefore we are. Seize the Memes of Production!

Seize the Carpoolers

becoming #02

State of Nuevo León, Mexico, 2005-2010. This image is part of a 5-year project called Suburbia Mexicana. I wanted to document some of the unintended consequences of the housing bubble many cities in Mexico were going through. I was also very interested in the aesthetic questions posed by using ultra beautiful landscape imagery to represent ecological degradation. It is a nod to the romantic use of tragedy in paintings; a visual exploration of the grandeur of disaster as a way to comment on the other side of Mexico’s copy pasted ideals of homeownership.

Suburbia Mexicana, Lost Rivers #29

Apodaca, N.L. Mexico, 2005-2010. This image is part of a 5-year project called Suburbia Mexicana. I wanted to document the rapidly changing landscape around my home city of Monterrey. Thousands of these little houses were being built and sold through government subsidies creating a housing bubble that lasted 12 years. In the end entire suburbs were abandoned and many became areas of extreme violence, where the drug war was fought for years. Others flourished and became the dream of homeownership the government forcefully pushed on Mexicans for years.

Suburbia Mexicana, Fragmented City #3

Suburb in Juárez, Nuevo León, Mexico, 2005-2010. This image is part of a 5-year project called Suburbia Mexicana. During the first 10 years of the 21st Century, Mexico put forward a housing project that resulted in the construction of hundreds of thousands of homes around my hometown of Monterrey. These are the people who dared to dream to own a new home. I encountered them in their new suburbs and asked them to be part of the representation of a changing landscape we were both living through at that time.  All images were done with a large format 4x5 film camera.

Suburbia Mexicana, People of Suburbia #30

Urban Transportation Plants  
From the Urban transportation Series  
2011 - 2012  
Edition of 500

Urban Transportation Plants

Produced in Monterrey Mexico, this image offers a glimpse at the invisible workforce behind the development of northern Mexico. 

Carpoolers #38

This is a photographic conversation between Fernando Gallegos and Alejandro Cartagena. For over 10 years, we have collaborated in the creation of stories surrounding the idea of the city and how we inhabit them. Through 33 images we constructed a ping-pong narrative about the spiraling decay of the Latin American city. In pursuit of modernity, we have seen how these human spaces collapse into themselves forcing uninhabitable conditions. We want to make a point about the natural dichotomy of our urban culture; the struggle between the cities we hoped would bring progress and the acceptance that it will never arrive.

The End of the City #16B

Suburbia Mexicana, Lost Rivers #15

Suburbia Mexicana Part II Lost Rivers

Escobedo, N.L. Mexico, 2005-2010. This image is part of a 5-year project called Suburbia Mexicana. I wanted to document the rapidly changing landscape around my home city of Monterrey. Thousands of these little houses were being built and sold through government subsidies creating a housing bubble that lasted 12 years. In the end entire suburbs were abandoned and many became areas of extreme violence, where the drug war was fought for years. Others flourished and became the dream of homeownership the government forcefully pushed on Mexicans for years. These are the homes of The Carpoolers.

Suburbia Mexicana, Fragmented City #1

Suburbia Mexicana Part I Fragmented Cities

Group of friends, Sunday afternoon in Juárez, Nuevo León, Mexico, 2005-2010. This image is part of a 5-year project called Suburbia Mexicana. During the first 10 years of the 21st Century, Mexico put forward a housing project that resulted in the construction of hundreds of thousands of homes around my hometown of Monterrey. These are the people who dared to dream to own a new home. I encountered them in their new suburbs and asked them to be part of the representation of a changing landscape we were both living through at that time.  All images were done with a large format 4x5 film camera.

Suburbia Mexicana, People of Suburbia #17

Suburbia Mexicana Part III People of Suburbia

This photograph is part of my series, Carpoolers, which depicts laborers in México captured from an overpass, commuting between distant suburbs and urban centers. Like much of my work, this project comes from a desire to tell the story of the dramatic environmental, economic, and demographic changes playing out in my home city of Monterrey. This series of images is a way for you to own some of my earlier work that has shaped my career.

Carpoolers #10

Foundation

The End of the City #15B

In Urban Transportation, Cartagena focuses on various modes of transportation used by workers in urban environments, particularly highlighting the ubiquitous red trucks. Shooting cars and trucks as they drive to work in the morning, Cartagena has been able to capture a stunning snapshot of what is the daily routine of a city. The colors and textures of the vehicles and objects, mixed with the contemporary idea of customizing vehicles make for arresting imagery of a contemporary Mexican city.

Red Truck #40

In Urban Transportation, Cartagena focuses on various modes of transportation used by workers in urban environments, particularly highlighting the ubiquitous Red Trucks.

Capturing cars and trucks as they drive to work in the morning, Cartagena has been able to capture a stunning snapshot of what is the daily routine of a city.

The colors and textures of the vehicles and objects, mixed with the contemporary idea of customizing vehicles make for arresting imagery of a contemporary Mexican city.

Red Truck #28

Urban Transportation; Red Trucks by Alejandro Cartagena

This photograph is part of my series, Carpoolers, which depicts laborers in México captured from an overpass, commuting between distant suburbs and urban centers. Like much of my work, this project comes from a desire to tell the story of the dramatic environmental, economic, and demographic changes playing out in my home city of Monterrey. This series has circulated the internet since 2011 and has been exhibited widely around the world. This piece is part of a collection of 50 works.

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