He says that it was a long time ago when he got to know Temoaya, a mainly rural community that belongs to one of the 125 municipalities of the State of Mexico.
He remembers that he was accompanying his father at the age of eight because they had inaugurated the Otomi Ceremonial Center.
He comments that Temoaya settled in his memories, the same ones that now make up the photographic memories of Gustavo Graf, who is currently a freelance photodocumentalist from Mexico City.
Temoaya was a trip that marked the childhood of someone who returned to that municipality 24 years later to finish the task that remained pending.
And it is that in 1996 once serving as a professional photojournalist by the hand of Marco Antonio Cruz in Latin Image Gustavo Graf decided to resume one of his most ambitious projects that he now embodies in his most recent book our fire with material dating from 1997 and showing the religious syncretism lived by the Otomi Hñahñu community of Temoaya.
Graf photographed under his lens for a year and with the help of Father Silvestre each of the festivities of the Otomí community but said work was, says the photodocumentalist, "kept in a drawer."
It was not until 2020, the famous year of the Covid-19 Pandemic, that Graf decided to open his archives and turn to the publication of our fire.
-The guiding thread of the book- Mentions Graf- is the religious syncretism that revolves around the Sanctuary of Señor Santiago, the Catholic rite and the Hnanhu culture mixed in festivals, processions and dances-
It should be noted that in addition to acquiring the book our fire the photodocumentary work can be seen in the exhibition in the University Cultural Corridor of the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico (UAEMéx).
In addition, you can find part of his work in the photographer's networks: http://gustavograf.com/ and on Instagram @gustavograf_
For more details on the work of the Mexican photodocumentalist Gustavo Graf, visit the interview on the @peninsula360press Instagram account.
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