The Alliance Française in Mexico City presents the exhibition A mexican in Paris, by Yolanda Andrade, a chant d´amour by the Mexican photographer to Paris.
“These pictures show my wanderings through the streets of Paris, considered by many travelers as the most beautiful city in the world. My goal has been to photograph Paris from the viewpoint of the flâneur, walking without a preconceived plan its streets, avenues, neighborhoods and museums, portraying moments without incident and the daily lives of its inhabitants at the end of the day.
Each trip to Paris has been an experience that mix the difficulty of photographing a city that strives to preserve its photogenic romanticism in black and white, as it has been shaped dramatically by Willy Ronis, Izis, Andre Kertesz, Robert Doisneau and Edouard Boubat, as well as the challenge of making images that express not only the beauty that offers itself without fuss to the camera, but also the possibility of creating a personal vision of the city, an experience of travel in which different times, memories and desires collide, to try to build through the photographic fragments a real and imaginary Paris.
I took these pictures with my mind and eyes full of images I’ve seen of photographers like Eugène Atget, Brassaï, Robert Frank and Raymond Depardon, and the wonderful stories that Honoré de Balzac wrote about Paris.
This series is part of a project I started some years ago. I have been taking pictures in different cities, both in Mexico and other countries, to explore issues such as time, memory and the experience of travel.
Yolanda Andrade
Alianza Francesa de Polanco
Socrates 156 Polanco
Mexico City
