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:: CATEGORIES :: > Chris Boot Books People by Stefan Ruiz Stefan Ruiz’s first book is about people – about the diversity of the world and the fragility of the human condition. It’s also a portfolio of work by an emerging photographer, with a distinct and original way of seeing the world and of making photographs. Bodies of work from diverse places and locations – from a Rwandan refugee camp to Birmingham in Britain’s West Midlands, a Cuban asylum to a dance hall in Mexico City – are sequenced into a single essay, linked by Ruiz’s singular aesthetic point of view, his preoccupations with issues of racial and physical identity, his particular identification with people’s vulnerability, and with details of his own autobiography. These are raw and edgy photographs in which people reveal themselves. They are often uplifting, certainly beautiful, yet we often feel we are on the edge of madness. It seems clear that Ruiz identifies with his subjects, even when he displays a trace of irony (for instance in his portraits of participants in the Texan Miss Rodeo contest), yet they are never exploitative. His ability to make pictures that show sincere respect, yet that manage to be so revealing, is a central characteristic of his talents. He has conjured a world that is uniquely his own. The book deals with several themes, all rooted in his own story. Born in California of Mexican and Italian parents, he is torn between the perspectives of a Mexican underclass and the classical values of old world Europe. A key figure – even though Ruiz doesn’t tell us much about him – is his grandfather Leo. The first photograph in the book (and the earliest photograph included) is a portrait of Leo, and the last is a portrait of him in his coffin. Stefan Ruiz was born in San Francisco, California. He studied painting and sculpture at UC Santa Cruz and spent one year studying painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice, Italy. After graduation, he travelled to West Africa to document Islam’s influence on traditional West African art. As a result, Ruiz began specializing in photography and applied his experience as a painter to his photography. On returning to California, he began showing the photos he had taken while in Africa. This resulted in a grant from The Color Purple Scholarship Foundation to pursue his independent work. At this time, he also began seven years of teaching art to the inmates from the main line and on death row at San Quentin State Prison. In addition to teaching, he began shooting portraits for magazines. He has now been photographing professionally for 12 years. From December 2002 to January 2004, he was the Creative Director of COLORS Magazine. His work has been shown in the Havana Biennale (Cuba, 2003), PhotoEspaña (Madrid, 2003), and Howard Greenberg Gallery (Tokyo, 2000). An award nominee at Rencontres d’Arles 2005, an exhibition of his photographs of the Televisa studios – Factory of Dreams – opened at Impressions Gallery, York, and is currently touring Europe. List price: £30.00 On offer: £24.00 Enter the appropriate quantity you wish to buy below, then click the 'Add To Cart' button to place this item in your shopping cart. * - Denotes a required field. Quantity * Mr Mkhize’s Portrait & other stories from New South Africa Currently Out Of Stock Please email books @ foto8.com for more information on this item. Member price: £10.36 Ghetto by Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin Price: £29.95 Member price: £24

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