Nathanial Gardner – författare

One of the threads that runs through Elena Poniatowska’s oeuvre is that of foreigners who have fallen in love with Mexico and its people. This is certainly the case of Querido Diego, te abraza Quiela - a brief novel (so short it was originally published in its entirety in Octavio Paz’s literary magazine Vuelta). The Russian exile and painter Angelina Beloff writes from the cold and impoverished post-war Paris to Diego Rivera, her spouse of over ten years. Beloff sends these letters to which there is no response during a time when the emancipation of women has broken many of the standard models and the protagonist struggles to fashion her own. Elena Poniatowska has (re)created these letters and within them one finds the unforgettable testimony of an artist and her lover during the valuable crossroads of a new time when Diego Rivera was forging a new life in his native country. In this edition, Nathanial Gardner comments on the truth and fiction Poniatowska has woven together to form this compact, yet rich, modern classic. Using archives in London, Paris and Mexico City (including Angelina’s correspondence held in Frida Kahlo’s own home) as well as interviews from the final remaining characters who knew the real Angelina, Gardner offers a mediation of the text and its historical groundings as well as critical commentary.This edition will appeal to both students and scholars of Latin American Studies as well as lovers of Mexican Literature and Art in general.

The Study of Photography in Latin America provides an insider's perspective to the study of photography. Nathanial Gardner provides readers with a carefully structured introduction that lays out his unique methodology for this book, which features over eighty photographs and the insights from sixteen prominent Latin American photography scholars and historians, including Boris Kossoy, John Mraz, and Ana Mauad. The work reflects the advances of the study of photography throughout Latin America with certain emphasis on Brazil and Mexico. The author further underlines the role of important institutions and builds context by discussing influential theories and key texts that currently guide the discipline.The Study of Photography in Latin America is critical to all who want to expand their current knowledge of the subject and engage with its experts.

In this book Nathanial Gardner provides an insider's perspective to the study of photography in Latin America. He begins with a carefully structured introduction that lays out his unique methodology for the book, which features over eighty photographs and the insights from sixteen prominent Latin American photography scholars and historians, including Boris Kossoy, John Mraz, and Ana Mauad. The work reflects the advances and developments of the study of photography throughout Latin America with certain emphasis on Brazil and Mexico. The author further underlines the role of important institutions and builds context by discussing influential theories and key texts that currently guide the discipline. The Study of Photography in Latin America is critical to all who want to expand their current knowledge of the subject and engage more robustly with its experts.

How can photography enrich our knowledge of Latin America?Photography provides unique insights into Latin America. It acts as a witness, agent, and archive - containing a wealth of knowledge about the continent, its social classes, and its multiple ethnicities. This companion introduces the reader to the role that photography plays in Latin America, offers ways in which it can be studied, and reveals how this medium can promote a deeper awareness of the region. It reviews the history of photography in Latin America; ways in which the technology transmits distinctive information; the influence of specific photographers and their relationships with patrons, mentors, and students; the role of institutions in promoting photography; and the developing Latin American canon. The Companion to Latin American Photography also explores how the medium can shape Latin American narratives and cultural identities; assert or question power; serve as testimony and memory; and represent and empower women, children and youth, as well as marginalized groups such as the disappeared. The study is intended not only to provide an overview of Latin American photography (including dozens of images from a vast array of photographers over the past two centuries), it also discusses innovative work taking place there. Above all, this book can be viewed as a guide to the ways in which photography can enhance and expand a viewer's knowledge of Latin America.