©Lou Peralta, Disassemble Series II

In 1970, Photography into Sculpture opened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. More than 50 works created by 23 American and Canadian artists were included in the exhibition. These artists embraced new techniques, materials and technology to move the traditional photographic print off the wall. Peter C. Bunnell, director of the exhibition and Curator of the Museum’s Department of Photography stated that these groundbreaking artists were engaged with “a heightened realization that art in photography has to do with interpretation and craftsmanship rather than mere record making”. Lou Peralta of Mexico City, Mexico is no stranger to this realization and has been pushing at the boundaries of portraiture for over thirty years. 

I discovered Lou’s compelling portraiture work a number of years ago and have been following her ever since. As the fourth generation from a family of studio photographers, the arts have been part of her life since she was young. Her creative process uses a variety of materials such as thread, wire and paper to explore the energy and essence of the people that she photographs. She uses physical elements that have been used in Mexico since pre-Hispanic times, together with objects from Mexican daily life. Her intuitive use of materials combined with her studies of quantum physics create portraits that ask us to look further and think about what it means to be human.

Selections from Lou’s Disassemble and Comalli series are featured here and I interviewed Lou via email.

©Lou Peralta, Disassemble Series III

Elizabeth Stone: When did you start to work dimensionally with your portraiture? Was there a catalyst?

Lou Peralta: I did my first embedded piece in 2007. At that moment I’d been working as a photographer for 30 years and I had the need to find something new in my work, to make it feel alive. For this, I used a portrait I took of Salma Hayek. In this three-dimensional piece I used metal “milagritos” and lace from my grandmother´s veil, which she wore to church. A unique piece, which by the way is displayed on my studio.

©Lou Peralta, Disassemble Series III

©Lou Peralta, Disassemble Series IV

Elizabeth Stone: What keeps you returning to this subject, body of work?

Lou Peralta: I want to be part of the next stage in art photography. What really drives me is the fact that I have a self-assigned mission: I’m the fourth generation of a family of portrait photographers, in which each member made innovations to their practice. As I am the last one of this dynasty, I’m looking forward to close this cycle with something meaningful that gives justice to the 100 years that my family has been devoted to this beautiful craft/art/technology.

I want to find the answer to why my family was dedicated for so long to portrait photography. I want to know what it really means to portray someone. What happens in the “before” and “during” of portraying somebody – that encounter where energies are shared. How the perception of the photographer impacts the picture, and how the decision making of pressing the shutter of a camera happens in less than a second. Could this be the manifestation of a new and stronger energy? What happens to that new energy generated by these frequency encounter? Could this new energy pass through the analog or digital support? Do we perceive or unconsciously feel this energy when watching the digital image or the printed photo? Will the apparition of artificial intelligence be at last the trigger so that photography is allowed and encouraged to find the space towards hand-made three-dimensional photography and mixed media?

Like in Aladdin, where like the genie, AI is making true all the creative, weirdest, fantastic dreams and ideas into a photo-based image. Photography will probably experience a new stage, opening to collaborate more with other media and returning to the basics. Whatever you choose to see it what you get. With analog and camera-less processes, there’ll be a search for a glorious new movement in the arts. Just like Slow Food, there could be Slow Photography. I am excited to be alive right now.

Elizabeth Stone: What is one beautiful thing today that you didn’t notice yesterday?

Lou Peralta: Earlier today I watched a documentary called Cave of Forgotten Dreams by Werner Herzog. There, an archaeologist talks about an aboriginal man in Australia who would touch up prehistoric rock paintings as they decayed. He said the man told him when asked (as anybody from western cultures would) why was he repainting them “I am not painting. It’s the hand of the spirit that’s painting now.” I loved that. To enjoy the process, and its decay. That I can forget about the search for eternal perfection. That I can take the time to go wrong, to make a mess in my Studio every now and then. To explore new things. Even though I consider my practice as my business, it’s a complicated process, I try not to not rush the work at the Studio. Making pieces and getting deep into a theme, takes time. I have to let it breath to see if it passes the test of time. At least for a time to be certain that they are what I really want to say. To say they’re finished.

©Lou Peralta, Disassemble Series II

©Lou Peralta, Disassemble Series III

Elizabeth Stone: Have your material choices changed over the years?

Lou Peralta: Yes, absolutely. My choices for materials to work with are intuitive, sometimes even accidental in a way where things just 
happen to be in the right place at the right time. I feel what my life needs. Sometimes it’s water, others earth, minerals, metal, wood, etc. For example, right now I know I need to work with metals and paper prints.

Elizabeth Stone: What inspires you?

Lou Peralta: I recently discovered how to see photography through quantum physics. The fact that we are INVISIBLE (since we are atoms and atoms are made up of energy) and that we can only see ourselves because of the reflection of light in our energy frequencies blows my mind. Along those lines, I’ve also been trying to understand the photon. How as the smallest piece of light it enables us to capture this reflection through silver halide or pixels. I based all the work in my Disassemble V Series: Portraits of the Invisible Vol. 2 Connected as the exploration of portraiture as a reflection of energy and complexity of the human being.

Elizabeth Stone: What other profession intrigues you? Why?

Lou Peralta: If I’m completely honest I can’t imagine a more rewarding activity than being a photographer. Though, when I was younger, I wanted to be a singer. As a matter of fact, for many years I sang as an amateur. It intrigues me how the body itself is the instrument. We produce sound with our physical bodies, through our spirit and our mind. It is said that singing is a healthy activity because of the high frequencies emitted through sound, and also because when singing the body produces endorphins, which release a sensation of well-being and happiness. Just as a little fun fact about me, for many years I was the official photographer for Mexico’s National Opera (Ópera de Bellas Artes). It was amazing.

©Lou Peralta, Disassemble Series III

©Lou Peralta, Disassemble Series III

©Lou Peralta, Disassemble Series III

©Lou Peralta, Disassemble Series III

©Lou Peralta, Disassemble Series V (on going)

Elizabeth Stone: Do you listen to music when you work, or do you prefer the quiet?

Lou Peralta: I did listen to music while working in the past, but now I prefer the quiet. I work in silence. I hear Mexico City’s soundtrack: the “fierro viejo’s” van song, kids in neighboring schools, young people playing sports, the wind moving the trees, the singing of the birds, airplanes, ambulances, and police cars. I live in the middle of what it is still a kind of small “pueblo”, and it is pretty much alive.

Elizabeth Stone: Do your dreams influence your work? How?

Lou Peralta: Sure, they do. I regularly wake up trying to grasp the memory of an idea that appeared in my dreams. I think dreaming connects every aspect of my life, including family, friends, work. Everything from my past, my present, and perhaps my future. My dreams allow me to take specific events, places and people and turn them into my source of inspiration. What seems to be the smallest, most irrelevant thing, turns out to be the most valuable. Living in Mexico helps. Even André Breton and Salvador Dalí, two of the most important surrealist artists in history, said that Mexico is the most surrealist country in the world. There is so much art in the streets, so much culture carried by our people, that one can only sit down, take it in and then express it. I do that with my photo sculptures.

©Lou Peralta, Disassemble Series V (on going)

©Lou Peralta, Disassemble Series III

©Lou Peralta, Comalli Series

©Lou Peralta, Comalli Series

Lou studied graphic design with specialization in editorial design at the Universidad Iberoamericana (1992), later she did a specialization course in contemporary photography at the Node Center for Curatorial Studies (2017). Her work has been presented in more than 20 exhibitions collectively and individually, mainly in the United States and Mexico. In 2018, she is represented by Foto Relevance gallery  and in 2020 by Obscura Gallery, both in the United States. Her Comalli Series pieces are available in Mexico City through Patricia Conde Galería.

In addition to her Contemporary Photography practice, Lou is producing with her father Héctor Herrera a book project celebrating the family photography business that spans four generations on its Centennial anniversary. Lou is a brand ambassador of Fujifilm Mexico as part of the world group X-Photographers. And since 2023, she is a Cameracraftsmen of America International Member.

Follow Lou’s amazing work on Instagram: @lou_peralta_photo_based_artist/