This project  was made ​​in Berlin during the summer of 2014;  was born from my curiosity about learning about the habits and lifestyle of the Berlin youth.

These  photographs capture  intimate moments on leisure spaces and portray the coexistence between friends.

Friends of Friends

This serie was made in Berlin during the summer of 2015. Baths, is a direct approach to the most intimate and personal space of the common human being.
 
These photographs were taken with my cell phone in the homes of friends from different nationalities and show the ability of human beings to adapt to a new environment.
 
In late June 2014 I arrived in Berlin as part of a cultural exchange. In early August, one night before returning to Mexico, I had an accident. At the hospital the doctors recommended me not to travel because if I did, I´ve the risked of dying on the plane because of a thrombosis, or at best, lose the leg that I´ve broke. Under these circumstances I decided to stay in Berlin.
 
After the surgery and two weeks of hospitalization I returned to Mexico to continue the rehabilitation process that continue for eight months.
 
When I finished this process, I looked for the opportunity to return to Berlin to close this difficult chapter and to work on some personal photographic projects. I found that opportunity and on this occasion I remained nine weeks living there.
 
Also during this time I met again with friends that I´ve done the previous year and met some new ones. Gradually they  all became close friends and our proximity allowed me to develop this project over the last two weeks that I lived there.
 
What motivated me was the curious about cultural differences between Mexico and Berlin. However these photographs do not reflect the identity or culture or customs of the country of origin but show us how different cultures live in Berlin bathrooms.
 
This is how this project is defined as an investigation based on images used as a tool for observation, description and analysis of a private space within the habitat of youth in Berlin.


Bathrooms

untitled 

Architectural Photography of the Folkwang Museum, Essen Germany

Folkwang Museum

The Ruhr area is european capital of culture, Zollverein is right in the middle of it as an international centre for culture and the creative industry.



Zollverein

This work is a subtle approach to intimacy  , presents a contemplative experience where various visual elements are coupled together by chance.

I´m not human after all 

I began this project by photographing three red balls hanging inside a pedestrian bridge (a crossway over a very busy avenue) located in a cultural district of Mexico City. 

Some pedestrians using the bridge would observe the balls, touch them, or walk under them. One woman even decided to photograph the balls, but only one person stopped to ask me if I was conducting some sort of artistic activity. This person was the only one to interact with me, and her reaction, her demeanor was different from the rest; I felt that she enjoyed the walk; she seemed to stroll by slower than anyone else. 

The fact that nobody paid me any heed is, in my opinion, due to the fact that in Mexico City we live in a constant rush, hustling and bustling to and fro; people seem to have lost their sense of amazement, and in this case there was very little expressiveness. It does not surprise me, therefore, that nobody but one woman even thought to question what was going on, what I was doing there. 

There are three elements that comprise the core of my project. First we have space, the fundamental combination between architecture and everyday life as the construction of the here and now. In second place are the people; to explore what they are sensing by being there and how they interact with the object.  Thirdly is the object itself, which in turn represents a break from “everydayness”, with what is expected in day-to-day life while at the same time it plays the role of being an object of play, drawing the observer back to simpler times, to times of playfulness, of childhood and carefree days. 

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Daniela Rivas Arenas

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