Our first candidate to be presented is Rodrigo Gonzalo-Encinar through his project "The Worshipers".
Rodrigo's statement on "The Worshipers":
In two previous projects I have explored the phenomenon of Spanish emigration within Europe, as well as the concept of representing a cloistered religious community through their living spaces.
My current work focuses on the portraits of individuals as they leave their places of worship. I see religion as a social practice, as a sign of both identity and of community, a private world within a larger social context. I am interested in the interaction between photographer and subject in a moment of uncertainty and emotional pause.
To pose the question of identity I examine the stereotype of standard American individuals as conservative religious people by drawing attention to the idea of ordinary. Through a system of categorization I try to extract some partial truth out of the standards of normalcy.
Credibility and ambiguity are concepts I aim to explore within this visual language. The truth of document starts to dissolve as the images reveal an ambiguity of meaning. Any sense of truth or representation of reality is constructed at the moment the photographer creates the image and in turn the viewer contemplates it.
-Rodrigo Gonzalo
You may view more of Rodrigo's work at his website www.rodrigogonzalo.com