“I am interested in the routine of daily life.And in the plane of realities, it is my humble opinion that there are not two dozens of populations or countries coexisting in freedom.”
Constantino Láscaris
“The Costarican,” 1975
It is true that the number of countries coexisting in freedom has changed since Dr, Constantino Láscaris wrote his book.Something that is still going on is that the authentic history of Costa Rica is based on the daily interweaving, the life of the concrete men and women.
My first encounter with this series of glass plates by don Manuel Gómez Miralles was very emotional and made me remember the above phrases by Láscaris.Seeing painted with silver and light daily scenes of past decades mentally transported me back to the Costa Rica I never knew personally, but have enjoyed through the stories told by my grand parents, my parents and other relatives.I found myself day dreaming about the time when the photographer still caused a sensation in the capital, as well as in other cities and small towns.I imagined him traveling by horse with his huge view camera, taking the same photograph more than once, just to make sure at least one of the glass plates survived intact the trip back to the studio. Thus, I decided to convert these negatives into digital files and to print them after cleaning the damages caused by storage and time.
The perspective of don Manuel of the daily life in Costa Rica during the beginning of the twentieth century of both urban and rural areas is unique.Printing again these glass plates is a tribute to the artist and for present and upcoming generations, it is an opportunity to enjoy the body of work of this photographer.The existence of the glass plates is don Manuel’s legacy to posterity. Just as well he could have destroyed all those negatives.
My input to this project has been strictly technical: a labor of digitizing, restoration and printing.While observing the individual glass plates, my admiration for don Manuel as an artist has increased.His strong and well balanced composition and his attention for detail are present on every single negative.
Photographers are conscious that other persons might print his or her negatives on different ways as he or she first visualized them. After studying don Manuel’s printing style, I have chosen the printing conditions of this material, always with the artist in my mind.I wish I would have had the opportunity to meet don Manuel personally. Given his artistic trajectory and his interest in new technologies, I have the impression he might have enjoyed working with the digital resources available to us nowadays.
Alejandra Chaverri
The selection of photographs included in these series, “I see you and I remember you” were digitized fromglass plates owned by the Costarican historian and art collector Mr. Manrique Alvarez Rojas.For information about availability and to schedulenational and international exhibitions, please contact us to the following address:
