About me, about my project, and a taste at what will be a much more detailed manifesto.
To begin:
I’m American, not by choice, and despite everythting I know about my country’s malfeasance around the world, I can’t claim any responsibility for those decisions. I loathe the fact that I’m linked through a small paper document to the destruction of nations, families, environments, and the incessant theft of natural resources but the fact that I’m American has almost nothing to do with me. It’s a matter of pure chance. Not one of us had that choice to sit down before we were conceived and decide where we would be born and what features/skills we would have, which is an inherently determinist argument that goes far beyond this explanation of my current status and the work I seek to do. However, it is important to note that despite my reputdiation of my country and its actions, I fully recognize the immense privileges I’ve been granted by the serendipity of pure chance being born to a wonderful family in a safe and stable country, nowhere near a conflict zone, with opportunities that millions have sought to reach in an effort to improve the livs of themselves and their families.
In terms of career, I loathe the idea of meaningless work which is nearly everything other than manual labor with modern tech. That said, I’ve spent the last 10 years as a graphic designer for brands, animation, print publications, websites, logos, and most importantly creating digital products for companies like Google, IBM, Toyota, Shell, BP, FritoLay, United Airlines, etc. In the past four years since I relearned to walk after a serious injury and the world opened back up I’ve been fortunate to use that money to see many parts of the world, a phenomenon that has truly never happened in history. With what i know see, and with what I know know to be true under my personal philosophical framework, I cannot accept the work I was doing so carelessly for such a violent terrorist state wrapping its tentacles in every part of the world, feigning democracy while producing the most advanced propaganda tools ever to have exist and thus the most viscerally confused, angry, violent, close minded population ever to have existed (my opinion). I reject the perverse, rapacious way of life we have created, where community and God died alongside each other holding hands and men like Larry Fink and Henry Kissinger replaced them as perfect Nietzchiean ubermensch characters. So I’m pivoting. I have an enormously broad skillset and a keen interest in documentary photography and telling stories that help people live a more comfortable life. This site is the beginning of that transformation given my extremely limited resources. However, what better place to be trapped financially with such a goal than Pátzcuaro, full of stories and visual intrigue, artesans, intellectuals. I aim for NGO work but the unforrtunate reality is that I do need to make money at some point and thus, I’m treating this as a proof of concept period, a way to prove my worth as a photojournalist who also can handle the marketing, the UX work, the website and socials, the writing, the on-location photography and videogaphy and who speaks four languages on top of all that (French, Spanish, English, and Portuguese).
I do not support the imperial aims of my country, nor its internal policies that ravage the pockets of poor and overworked families for cuts to social programs that allow people to live with dignity. 6 years living in Detroit, at one point while there the only city to have ever declared bankruptcy, has helped me understand a bit of what poverty really is. But it’s only when I went abroad, when I lost my job and had to figure it out on a salary (this is not a joke) 22x less than my American tech money, it was only upon seeing a deformed man dragging his body along the sidewalk pushing a cup for change in Nepal, horribly bruised, a trail of blood behind him, that I understood who I am and what it means to be born at the top of the latter by PURE chance. It breaks my heart evey day to the point that all my knowledge I worked so hard to gain about 20th century golpes de estado, existentialism, has to be put aside or I won’t make it another day. The only thing I can do is work on and with those in front of me, nihilistically as is my nature, but blindly hoping we can create a paradigm shift and return to community, plazas, shared values, and away from the horrifying implications of AI.
For now, this is more or less my manifesto. I’m highly skilled technically and aesthetically, focused on photography that others are not taking, using those photos as material to bring attention to stories around the world, starting right here, right now, in Michoacán which has received me with open arms.
Contact me via Email or Instram or What’s App for anything at all. I have yet to charge a cent for these photos and search authentic realities to help me build up a reputation. Que vaya con díos.
- Alexander Benedict Sweet
Like many others I had seen the fascinating images of “pescadores” (fishermen) throwing out their nets for thhe days catch. I was disheartened to find out that this is in fact, as is so often the case, and Instagram style performance put on to bring in tourists and has little to do with the reality of life as a fisherman on Isla Janitzio. For my own cuiosity I went back the next day, approached the fishermen at the docks and asked if they would allow me to go out with them for both the morning and the nighttime routine in exchange for a small tip. I was met with an enthusiastic yes from one of them and we began figuring out logistics, where I would stay, where I would be in the boat. I had no idea if it would work but as it turned out it was shockingly easy and this family is a truly incredible group. With any luck I’ll return with printed photos for them in the next few days.
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