Juan Manuel, when I contacted you for this interview, you sent me excerpts from two photography series, Extraños and Ethiopia, which I chose to focus on for its blue color. I’d like to talk about the history of these series and your own history as a photographer.
First, you mention that you chose Ethiopia because of its blue color. In reality, Ethiopia isn’t about the color blue but primary colors, pure colors. I associate Ethiopia with pure colors, blues, greens, vermilion. These are immaculate, clear, crisp colors. They do not mix in the images: the wall is one color and the sky is another. But that isn’t the reason I made Ethiopia. Those are the visual characteristics of the work that I returned with, but that isn’t the reason I went there. I chose Ethiopia because it is the only African country that was never completely colonized, a historical fact which sets is apart from the rest of the continent. Moreover, in Ethiopia, there are still tribes and ethnic groups that continue to live as in Neolithic times. This means that ancestral ways of live are still current, and that interested me deeply.
Telephone interview by Lola Fabry with Juan Manuel Castro Prieto conducted May 29,2013.
Read the full article on the French version of Le Journal.
