Contact Sheet 145 - Ollin Mecatl: The Measure of Movements

This catalogue features the work of photographer Don Gregorio Antón. He creates photographic retablos that look like sacred objects. They are intimately small and sit on stands to be viewed individually. Each retablo is one of a kind. Frida Kahlo described retablos as the truest representation of the people s art. Also called ex votos, they have been part of Mexico s tradition since the seventeenth century. They were originally hung behind the altars of Catholic churches, and remain a tradition to this day. Antón uses the visual language of the retablo to create existential tales of human existence that speak of spiritual searching, suffering, hope and despair, life and death. This idea is expressed in the title, Ollin Mecatl, which refers to an Aztec expression for the measure of movements. The artist also translates this as velocity of change. He describes the concept as the "instances of time and tragedy and the reconciliation of hope...the core measurements of things lost and found, evidence of thought and the resulting sum of solitude."