Customer Reviews

Daniela Rossell: Ricas y Famosas: Mexico 1994-2001

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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]

Those people from Mexico and Texas who have written that this book is bad and not worth the money are just trying to discourage people from buying it because it exposes the mexican elite in such a scathing unflinching way. these people as the new york times has exposed...are embarrassed that their depraved lifestyles have finally been uncovered. Hurray for Daniela. Plus these photos are beyond delicious. They are genius.

Some have interpreted this book all wrong and some have seen it for all it is it worth. I actually was fortunate enought to attend Daniela's opening here in my home town and walked away praising these pieces of work up and down. She provides a window into a hushed yet lavish world that hardly anyone sees. This book is not about technique and lighting, weather she is using the correct apeture or f-stop, blah, blah, blah. She seems to be confronting issues that she had as a child with her surroundings-she is challangeing a social taboo by reviewing the upper class, and has done a amazing job! Starting out as snap shots of her family she eventually found her way into houses of people she didnt even know. I again give praise and do believe that these are works of art, and as a photographer myself I think she accomplished here what many strive for. Buy this book! You will not be let down.

I read the above reviews and see people too caught up in their own idea that they are artists and so everything they look at must be either artistic, or expertly done. This book, although it is listed in the arts and photography section, might as well have been listed in the political commentary section. This book is not about ansel adams, or bravo type photographs. This book is about showing people what they have not seen. I lived in mexico and what is saw everyday was in stark contrast to what this book shows. Photographers looking for an artistic edge many times will take the photos that will toy with one emotions, the poor, the worse off, something of utter beauty. What this book does is shows you what has not been photographed, the upper echelons of mexican society, and for many of us familiar with the lower reaches it is an incredible book that throws the contrast of lifestyles in our faces, it shows the other side. For those of you looking to impress your poseur art friends this book is not for you. For those of you looking for a book that shows the inequalities of mexican life...a social commentary, try looking at this book,a nd then comparing it to what you have seen in Mexico D.F.

I first saw this exhibition in Madrid in summer 2002 and could not forget the images on display, so I was delighted to learn that a book was in print and available on Amazon. This is not just a photo book--though the photographs are amazing in and of themselves--it is social commentary of a most unusual sort. Yes, one hears about the decadent wealthy Mexicans, ten of whom are on the Forbes 400 list, but to actually see them in person, revelling in such lavish surroundings, is quite astounding.

I would say, though, that this isn't only about Mexicans--it is about rich people. These images could just as easily have been shot in Hungary, in Hong Kong, or in New York City. To me the interesting thing is how similarly the wealthy live, regardless of where they are.

Rossell's work is groundbreaking in its unflinching examination of the ultra-wealthy of Mexico. We are oddly attracted and repulsed by the women who inhabit the pictures. The images of excess and extravagance are sometimes beautiful, often comical and most certainly tragic. Yet, the faces of those women photographed reveal that they are not oblivious to their surroundings. They too seem to share this repulsion to their surroundings but their postures suggest resolution to their condition. The work is a fascinating new twist on portraiture - higly recommend.

THIS IS MORE THAN A PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK. IT IS AN IRONIC, ACURATE AND DEVASTATING DOCUMENT THAT REVEALS NOT ONLY HOW THE RICH LIVE IN MEXICO BUT THE WHOLE SOCIETY AND POLITICAL SYSTEM THAT MADE THEM POSSIBLE. THE QUALITY OF THE PHOTOS AND THE PRODUCTION OF THE BOOK ARE ASTONISHING AND, AS WITH ALL TRUE WORKS OF ART, THE POSSIBLE INTERPRETATIONS ARE ENDLESS AND TIMELESS. AFTER DECADES OF MEXICAN PHOTOGRAPHY DEVOTED TO THE POOR AND THE FOLKCLORIC THIS BOOK BRINGS A RADICAL NEW APPROACH TO THE MEDIUM. ANYONE INTERESTED IN MEXICO AND IN PHOTOGRAPHY SHOULD GET THIS BOOK.

This work is not "Art" in the traditional sense of aesthetical delight or something (well, except in case you find "ultra - kitsch" an enjoyable, inspiring experience...), rather the real worth of this book, I believe, is its acid critic towards the excess and overall banality of the mexican upper class portrayed there. Anyway, the photographs are carefully taken so to render a curious contrast between the delicate light effects over the baroque scenarios and the poses of their inhabitants. Very funny, allowing several levels of interpretation.