This project presents a unique collaboration between photographer Richard Misrach and composer and performer Guillermo Galindo. Misrach has been photographing the 2,000-mile border between the US and Mexico since 2004, with increased focus since 2009--the latest installation in his ongoing series Desert Cantos, a multifaceted approach to the study of place and man's complex relationship to it. Misrach and Galindo have been working together to create pieces that both document and transform the artifacts of migration. Using water bottles, clothing, backpacks, Border Patrol "drag tires," spent shotgun shells, ladders and sections of the border wall itself, most of which were collected by Misrach, Galindo fashions instruments to be performed as unique sound-generating devices. He also imagines graphic musical scores, many of which also use Misrach's photographs as points of departure. A unique melding of the artist as documentarian and interpreter, the book includes several suites of photographs drawn from a number of distinct series or Cantos, some made with a large-format camera as well as an iPhone. The book contains a compilation of two dozen sculpture-instruments, graphic scores, instrument designs and links to videos of performances by Galindo.
Richard Misrach (born 1949) is one of the most influential color photographers of his generation. His work is held in collections including The Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, all in New York, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. In 2012 Misrach collaborated with Aperture to launch a book and exhibition titled Petrochemical America, exploring the health and environmental issues surrounding the Mississippi River industrial corridor, otherwise known as "Cancer Alley."
Guillermo Galindo is an experimental composer. His interpretations of concepts such as musical form, time perception, music notation, sonic archetypes and sound-generating devices span a wide spectrum of artistic works performed and shown at major festivals, concert halls and art exhibitions throughout the US, Latin America, Europe and Asia.