Paola Rojas H. & David Pérez – Visceral series (2015)

True fact: I was born cross-eyed.

Still being the 70s and with my post-natal health care provided by the US military, I underwent surgery that evens out the eyes by snipping muscles.

The result almost four decades later is that I only truly have binocular vision for a very short time period each day. As my eyes tire, I only use one eye at a time. I tend to prefer my left (non-dominant) eye.

So in addition to having an autism spectrum level aversion to eye contact, most 3D movie spectacle is lost on me.  (Wenders’ Pina Bauch documentary was wonderful because the use is so minimal and used to subtly emphasize depth of field and in Mad Max: Fury Road the 3D contributed an amplified sense of post-apocalyptic setting and therefore rendered the over-the-top color design less obtrusive.)

Visceral‘s palette is two tone: red and blue. As with 3D movies red advances and blue recedes–bestowing an unusual dimensionality to what would otherwise be relatively flat studio work. (I think if you donned 3D glasses, this image would probably even pop a bit.)

@lisakimberly will tell you that I’m a bit of a Rojas detractor. But I should confess a change of heart. Reviewing her work now reveals how she’s pared down her muddled early work, focusing on the more sinister and surreal threads in her work.

On the surface, Visceral hits as a bit of a left turn but the simplicity of it puts a very fine point on her technical chops and finds a way of bridging the gap between fragmentation as literally depicted to a more scientific/poetic/conceptual exploration.

And although I’m not as fond as the rest of Visceral as I am with this image, it’s still exciting work from a talented image maker who appears to be fully coming into her own.