Santiago Arau is a renowned photographer whose work focuses on aerial shots of the Mexican territory. His lens travels from Ciudad Juárez to Cancún and Holbox, from the northern border to the Mexican southeast, spanning from 5,500 to minus five meters above sea level, from minus 15 to 45 degrees, and covering over 5,000 kilometers. Arau defines this approach as "a different perspective than what we are used to, since seeing things from above situates where we stand; it is a way to calibrate the human, urban, and geographical scale within a territory. The framing possibilities a drone offers are infinite; you can choose the height, framing, and technique to photograph an object, maximizing the power of a camera."
As part of the curatorial proposal for the Mexico Pavilion at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, Arau created a series of videos and aerial photographs capturing what the pavilion's title framed as 'Echoes of a Land,' depicting the diverse urban and rural contexts surrounding the works on display.
For Santiago Arau, this practice has sparked a series of reflections. As he notes: "from this perspective, I have realized that we live in a complicated time marked by overpopulation, deforestation, and the overexploitation of natural resources, altering the landscape and presenting a discouraging outlook for our planet."
Santiago Arau has been recognized for documenting architecture and territory using cameras and drones. He won third place for best advertising campaign for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games and recently co-produced the documentary “19 de septiembre” for Ambulante 2018.
This article was written by Mónica Arellano. The translation is powered by AI.
