An appeciation of the work of Miriam Calzada

By Llilian Llanes

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Time has passed since my frequent trips to the Dominican Republic when I enjoyed visiting the artists who always kept me up to date with their most recent creations and ideas for the future. Also interesting were the encounters with critics and historians of the country, who I have always respected for their sustained investigation and diffusion of Dominican art. For example, Porfirio Herrera and Sivano Lora, whose memories will always been linked to the intense atmosphere and creativity of the Dominican artistic scenes of the eighties and nineties of the past century.

Much has certainly changed, but this does not mean that there has been a slump in the Dominican art sector. Simply the country is involved in a different dynamic that has allowed new and promising talent to emerge, who together with their anteceding generation demonstrate their notable creative potential. Within this context, the energy that is observed in the bonding of old and new institutions with the fine arts is even more encouraging. The long beloved Museum of Modern Art has been revitalized and embarks upon new projects, in spite of the recent appearance of one of the most important modern art centers in Latin America, in terms of design concept and objectives, in nearby Santiago. It is safe to say that, the Leon Jimenez Center in Santiago de los Caballeros, which creates a dialogue between city and country so rare in our region, has found an admirable place for art. Its space will not only permit the expansion and diversification of its public holding, but also foster a spiritual enrichment for citizens of this nation. One must recognize that the rejuvenation of the Museum of Modern Art can not only be perceived in its new program of expositions, and its intent to be current in the national and international scene, but in its decision to invite foreign curators to present the works of its native artists, With much confidence and generosity I would like to above all recognize these developments.

I must confess that when the artist Miriam Calzada proposed we work together in her first personal appearance in the museum, I hesitated to accept since it implied making a large hiatus in my current projects. Sincerely, her work stimulated me and captivated the passion with which the artist confronted her work. It had been a long time since I had perceived such passion from a creator. But what ultimately made me decide to be a part of this was the certainty that the Museum of Modern Art welcomed the presence of a foreign curator.

So I thank Lic. Maria Elena Ditren for the opportunity that she has given me to offer my point of view on the work of this Dominican artist, who I admire sincerely for her strong professionalism, her humanitarian ideals, and the esthetic level of her photography.

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It is well known that recently, the use of photography has intensified on behalf of the artist whose traditional means of expression has been through paintings or other forms which are now unusually referred to as fine arts. Within this context we have seen how the traditional controversy between painting and photography, which theoretically was a confluict between pure photographers and those who manipulate their work with computer techniques.

In effect, there are creators today who experiment with available resources to take their photos into limits unimaginable and surprise their audience for their esthetic and conceptual quality. But this should not presuppose the legitimacy of those who love the purity of traditional photography, maintained from previous generations, or vice versa.

Photography has been separated from art for so long that to reach its legitimacy and deserved recognition it should alleviate itself from these debates. It is true in orthodox terms that photographers continue to constitute a rara avis, without mentioning the appearance of the digital camera, which has multiplied their passions. It is rare to find someone with an artifact in their hands, which allowed them to measure light, approximate distance or to use different type of film, etc. However, to my knowledge, although modern equipment is available to us all, it is only when these devices are in the hands of someone knowledgeable of their capabilities, can one successfully convey imags that stimulate and stir emotions.

The truth is, no matter what event it is applied to, photography offers an interpretation that was previously unseen, and thus today constitutes one of the richest manifestations of conceptual and thematic variety, as well as the complexity of its subjects. However one views photography, it is easy to distinguish between those creators who use it simply as a medium and those for whom it continues a fundamental form of expression. Indubitably, Miriam Calzada pertains to the latter group.

Personally, I have always been interested in Dominican photography, and have been able to meet many of its most respected masters. However, I recognize that I have been out of touch with this field in the last years. I can only lament this ignorance as during my last trip to Santo Domingo Miriam Calzada showed me her work along with that of her colleagues convincing me that this specialty is indeed maintained in the Dominican Republic with vitality and strength that has always been its trademark. It is surprising how many women photographers there are in the Dominican artist community, a circumstance which is probably in part a result of the recent rescue of the extraordinary photographical works of Hilma Contreras, whose sits at the vanguard of this field place as an outstanding place not only in the national level, but in scale with the entire Latin America.
As throughout the world today, there are many forms and tendencies in photography in the Dominican Republic, which typify the international artistic scene. Fortunately, in this country a fondness for experimentation has not surpassed the traditional work which initially cultivated the discipline of photography.
Miriam Calzada is an example of this tradition. Her case is that of a photographer taken by the tradition of landscapes, in the context of the art history of the Dominican Republic. To my understanding she is the first woman that has immersed herself in the extraordinary labor of investigating the country’s territory in this way. Evidently, she is the first woman in her category who has adopted nature as the center of focus and principle motive for her creations.

I really never thought I would ever have before me such compelling images, such strength unified by exquisite superiority. Visiting this artist’s studio and examining her work of less than ten years has been one of my most passionate experiences of the past few years.

It must also be said that it was not in Miriam Calzada’s primray interest to register the manmade aspects of Dominican scenery. In her work it seems that any element that might contaminate her natural setting was excluded from the imagery in order to maintain a natural sense. However when people do occur in her images, it has to be recognized, that she shows her sensitivity and knowledge on how difficult it is to portray the essential characteristics of a culture. Maybe this result was achieved because, in some way, people intercepting her lens and found more than just an eye at the other end.

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Miriam Calzada was born in Guayaquil to a Dominican father and an Ecuadorian mother. Having arrived at a young age to the Dominican Republic, few things tied her to her country of birth, except that of her discreteness, something very unusual in our Caribbean vivacity. Whoever meets her for the first time would never imagine her spiritual strength and her energetic temperament, attributes that have allowed her to confront a profession occasionally involving taking serious physical risks.

Calzada received her professional foundation in photography in the United States although her affixation for it was born in Europe, during visits to the Norwegian fiords. To be sure, the spell that captured in Norway seems to lie behind her obsession with cliffs and her passion for what is monumental. But this footprint would not be manifested until many years later. What really determined her professional path was her trip to Denmark, according to her memories. The quality of advertising photography that she saw in that country made her want to study this when she returned to the United States. So she abandoned the idea to succeed her father as a lawyer and enrolled as a photography student in Washington, DC.

In Washington DC she was a student of the Corcoran College of Art and Design where she felt the classes lacked emphasis on teaching students technique so she secured a job as an assistant to an American photographer from whom she learned the reality of what it was to be a photographer. Later, she entered the Washington School of Photography (now the Art Institute of Washington) where she studied techniques that would result in an extraordinary utility of lighting in relation to objects and the use of different types of films and different methods of developing them. It seems that here she learned everything she needed to know about techniques and working in a dark room.

Although the artist does not give much importance to her time spent at the Corcoran, from my point of view of photography studies, there is no doubt that this institution offered an artistic core and cultural utility in the process of her development as a creator. I have heard her say that the Washington School of Photography gave her technique and Corcoran opened her to the world of art, in particular, for the expositions that it constantly offered.

It should not go unsaid that as a student she had to go out into the streets and take pictures and become comfortable with a technique known as photojournalism. But this is not a technique that she would use immediately, she was initially interested in the fundamentals, in everything related to advertisement. This was exactly what her line of work would be directly out of school, when she returned home.

And so came the eighties and she arrived at Santo Domingo in the midst of an exportation boom. At such a time of commercial growth, when the demand for catalogues to promote products grew daily, every company wanted to put its products on the market and opportunities opened for advertising photography, a niche which the recent graduate took advantage of to open her studio and dedicate herself to meeting the demands of the growing market.

Although her practice was reduced almost exclusively to commercial photography, her studio’s routine would inevitably provide a great experience and above all strengthen her knowledge of technique and in particular with light, which would later be of great value. For example, the experience she acquired in everything concerning technique is what allows her today to work without a light meter. She affirms with great pride that “her eye is her light meter”.

During these years employed by advertising agencies, she never stopped pursuing personal projects.
She was recounting to me a couple of days ago that she would always go out with her camera in hand finding inspiration in the streets. At this time she began to develop an interest in flora and coasts when on her weekend outings away from the city she began to find herself within nature.

One day she had to close her studio and abandon her professional life during a period which extended to eight years. It would seem to be a long time to be away from her profession but it served to put into perspective what her priorities were with respect to photography.

In my personal opinion, I don’t think this hiatus served exclusively to reinstate what up to that point had been her work as a photographer. Undoubtedly, it was an intense period, which fortified her character, enriched her spirit, and modified her perspectives on every aspect life. She found herself now confronted with nature and its mysteries and finally managed to find her path in the art world and conduct her creative energy, through what she herself calls, her pact with the earth.

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The Dominican Republic, like many other Caribbean islands, would seem to be known exclusively for its coasts and in particular its beaches. The profound phrase “ojala que llueva cafÈ en el campo” - a popular merengue line meaning “I hope it rains coffee in the countryside” – reflects a Dominican experience that not only escapes the view of many foreigners but also many of its own citizens who do typically look into the inside of the island. Such a course causes some sense of belonging to a territory to escape, that is, within one’s diversity lies one’s own roots.

Many Dominican photographers recognize the peculiarities of what it is to be Dominican, the characteristics of its rural scenery, its myths and popular cults. Among these we must mention Domingo Batista from Santiago, whose works show consistency about nature and the Dominican man which have enriched the national audience as much as the international one. Precisely it is within this consistency where Miriam Calzada’s work fits, in enlightening with an amazing strength and uncommon sensibility the Dominican panorama. Her efforts have made notable contributions not only because of the peculiarity of her points of view but because of the profound energy that she has made her discourse. Miriam Calzada’s collection is a permanent dialogue between a macroscopic vision of the world and a vision of particularities. This is evident in the grandness that nature offers and in the surprising beauty that can be captured from what would appear to be an insignificant perspective of something commonly unnoticed. Her images zoom in and out to capture the “all” of the natural universe that surrounds us.

There are many actions taking place in different countries with the intent to present to the world the grave deterioration that the earth is experiencing. There are also many points of views created to alarm the world on what is taking place. There are those which portray the disasters with an aim to convey the damage being done to nature and others which show the beauty that still remains in order to transmit to people what must be preserved. Miriam Calzada belongs to this last group, a group that prefers to preserve nature by appealing to a sensitive side of human beings confronted with the face of beauty and perhaps being able to discover themselves in it.

Framing of traditional photography, her poetic sense is maintained, as already mentioned, within the line of landscapes, oscillating between the philosophical reflection and the intrigue that is produced by arts extracted by nature.

Moving away from any narrative, she liberates an emotional potency through the images that precisely convey the key to the interpretation of her art. These images, apart from all rhetoric are simple, joining harmonic composition with volume that clearly defines the vocabulary offered by nature itself.

It must be said that in her photography light constitutes a factor that must be taken in account, not because it is the protagonist of images but because it serves t point out elements of our everyday life that are amongst us and we do not notice. At instance, her images filled with power, have the capacity to open our most intimate sensitivity.

For her work our artist uses a Swedish camera that has accompanied her on all her trips throughout the Dominican territory. She began these trips alone and later with various experts of the territory with which she often formed a team that has allowed her to obtain a more in depth understanding of the particularities of the land. Her images cover almost every area of the Dominican territory which she has traveled either by land or by helicopter.

In the north, the sea and the coast are seen in Montecristi, la Bahia de Luperon, Puerto Plata and Samana, in the east in Macao, Dominicus, Saona and in the south in the sand dunes of Bani, the coasts of Pedernales, and Hahia de las Aguilas by the border with Haiti.

An extraordinary panorama of the silhouette of the island is shown from the dark blue sea of the Atlantic Ocean until the turquoise blue of the Caribbean Sea. The line that divides the point between the sea and the land has been captured by Miriam’s camera in a magnificent a variety of colors and forms including a breathtaking sky adorned by Caribbean clouds. Whether in the valleys or the mountains, along the coasts or the on the plains, these green masses go reach us until we discover the surface of a simple leaf, the profound equilibrium that signifies an intimate encounter in the deepest sense.

Similar to the coast, the interior of the country is presented from the top of the mountain ranges to the formation of rivers which flow to the sea; the trees, trunks, plants, flowers, trails and everything that adorns them. All this captured not only using very particular angles but timed for the proper light and the precise moment where all the aspects become a perfect combination and give faith to the dominion of the technique of photography. Fertile soil and valleys that seem to be enchanted places where dwarfs roam through trails are also presented. For a person like me, who has not left the Dominican capital, it seems that to visit these places would be a spiritual gift.

In closing, photography has become a medium for Miriam Calzada to show things that people might already know or have seen but tend to ignore. With this in mind, she has deepened her vision so that to give a more intense image of what she sees, for example, marine and inland landscapes and mountain ranges. With a superior sensitivity and a tendency outside of every limit, this artist has dedicated a lot of time and energy to register a universe that is neglected by most of us.

Up to now Miriam Calzada has not shown a sample of her entire collection. They are known in a sparse matter as some of her concentrated collections were previously exposed. Now for the first time the public will have a broader vision of what constitutes her conceptual and esthetic offering. It have found it convenient then to make a selection of her works that will serve as a synopsis of her most important works.

I must explain that she did not intend to portray the Dominican population in her work, however she was able to portray a modest and respectful Dominican person in these images that I felt was beautifully shown and had to be displayed.

For a better understanding of her display the exposition has been divided into five modules throughout the spectator will be able to enjoy a corresponding dialogue between images, with an intent to summarize the different point of views used by her at the time her work was conceived. I must confess that this has been a task that has given me enormous satisfaction for I have had to confront an artist whose production, in qualitative and quantitative terms, result as a challenge for any specialist. As far as the professionalism and level of creativity, the sensibility and modesty of Miriam Calzada, I can only thank her for having allowed me to delve into her archives to discover that in our region, there still exist artist whose reason for being is to have their own identity recognized.

Llilian Llanes
Habana City
December 2005