David Rochkind

PHOTOGRAPHER #86. 

Website: http://www.davidrochkind.com/
Contact: http://www.davidrochkind.com/#/contact

David Rochkind's 'Heavy Hand, Sunken Spirit' photography project. 

"Heavy Hand, Sunken Spirit is a project about the social costs and consequences of Mexico’s violent drug war. It frames the violence as a symptom, as opposed to the problem, and one of a variety of symptoms that will haunt the country for generations.  This country is in the midst of a “conflict” in every sense of the word, and when documenting this conflict it is important not to reduce what is happening to a series of nearly anonymous images of carnage that could be happening anywhere.  I am not creating a story about violence that happens to be set in Mexico, but rather a story about Mexico’s present situation, offering a snapshot of a time that will be referred to for decades as people look for answers to make sense of Mexican society.  I want each image to convey a sense of Mexico, her color, and her culture." 

I think Rochkind's distress and concern for the nation is expressed beautifully in this body of work. The desperation of the environment saturates these scenes and places focus on many aspects of the drug wars. I love that the images are all very realistic and not noticeably edited. This method of photography keeps the audience in the moment and refuses to allow you to stray into immunity or just passing off the images as story narrative. Rochkind also has chosen a subject that in the art world has very little publicity which makes the project all the more important. This awareness is so imperative and is one of the factors that keeps revolution thriving.