Daniela Rossell: Ricas y Famosas: Mexico 1994-2001 [Paperback]

Daniela Rossell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 2002 | ISBN-10: 8475065198 | ISBN-13: 978-8475065199 | Edition: First Edition

See the super-rich in their vast kitsch palaces, modeling their latest designer wardrobes, showing off their art collections, petting their stuffed lions, posing on guilded, gleaming furniture, and tanning along the edges of lush indoor swimming pools. This is the private lifestyle of Mexican millionaires, and it is photographer Daniella Rossell's outrageous twist on what is historically understood as Mexican documentary photography. Rather than documenting the lifestyles of indigenous peoples, the urban poor, or exotic village scenes--as so many of her colleagues have done and continue to do--she has chosen to explore the habitat, customs, and traditions of the tiniest minority in Mexico: the ultra-rich.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Daniela Rossell was born in Mexico City in 1973. While studying figure drawing and paintings at the National School of Visual Arts in Mexico City, she worked independantly with an automatic camera. In 1997, Rossell was included in a group show at the Museo del Barrio in New York; the next year she had her first solo exhibition at Greene Naftali. Since then, her work has appeared at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; the Berkley Museum; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and, most recently, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Turner; First Edition edition (August 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 8475065198
• ISBN-13: 978-8475065199
• Product Dimensions: 12.6 x 8.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,793,121 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Mexican Rich, EXPOSED..., September 5, 2002

By 

Juan "Implacable" Rulfo (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Daniela Rossell: Ricas y Famosas: Mexico 1994-2001 (Paperback)

I'm from Mexico and I know that Mexico, especially Mexico City, is a place of extremes, you are either too rich, or too poor. And I always thought that was a curious irony. Daniela photographed people who are obviously wealthy, some of them in very compromising positions. What is to be rich in Mexico? I got this book after reading a review in "La Jornada", where it said that some of the people that were photographed change their mind at the last minute and now are even making legal and death threats to the author, I wouldn't be surprised if this reveiw space got filled with one or zero stars qualifications, I mean, after all, is the rich people who don't want to be seen showing their good or lack of good taste. What is funny is that these people posed at will, none forced them.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another reader, from Mexico, September 14, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Daniela Rossell: Ricas y Famosas: Mexico 1994-2001 (Paperback)

I find this book an excellent one. It might not be as classical as an Alvarez Bravo one and it might not talk so much about the power of lights and shadows, but it is absolutley worthy of being in your hands if you are interested in Mexico and in the way some people live there. This book has a great sense of humor, an enormous documentary quality and an amazing capability of portraying characters. I fully recommend it.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I have not read this book., November 17, 2002

By 

Nik Willmore (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Daniela Rossell: Ricas y Famosas: Mexico 1994-2001 (Paperback)

I found this news article today:

Earlier this year, 89 wives, daughters and lovers of wealthy or powerful
Mexican men posed chicly in extravagant settings with complete lack of
inhibition about their opulence, for photographer Daniela Rossell's
coffee-table book, "Ricas y Famosas" ("Rich and Famous"), thus appearing to
taunt the 53 percent of Mexicans who live in poverty. Rossell, who comes from
the upper class herself, and is thought to have made the book in part because
of conflicted views of her upbringing, has since received threats from the
embarrassed wealthy, who apparently miscalculated how their pictures would be
perceived. [The Observer (London), 9-15-02]