Cristina De Middel (b. 1975, Spain) questions the documentary value of photography and the role it plays in creating stereotypes. Her conceptual approach often examines the delicate and loaded relationship there can be between photography and ‘truth’.
The exhibition presents the Central American migration route across Mexico as a heroic and daring journey, rather than a desperate escape. De Middel borrows the atmosphere and structure of the Jules Verne book Journey to the Center of the Earth.
The journey begins in Tapachula on the southern border of Mexico with Guatemala, and ends in Felicity, a small town in California which officially claims the absurd title ‘Center of the World’. The border fence is visible from Felicity which adds to the dystopic disappointment of the journey, where the final destination is no more than a roadside tourist attraction.
De Middel combines straight documentary photography with constructed images and archival material. She uses multi-layered narratives to reflect the complexity of human migration today; countering how it is often portrayed simplistically in the media and official reports.
“La que se Fue” from the series Journey to the Center, 2021.
© Cristina De Middel / Magnum Photos
More about Cristina De Middel
De Middel worked as a photojournalist for Spanish local newspapers and NGOs including the Red Cross and Doctors without Borders for almost 10 years, covering crises in Syria, Haiti and Bangladesh amongst others. In 2012 she produced The Afronauts, a fictional series inspired by the real, yet unbelievable, project that Zambia had to conquer the moon in the middle of the Space Race and the Cold War. She was awarded the Infinity Award for the best publication for the book at the International Center of Photography in New York. Her work has been exhibited widely, including at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, The Hasselblad Foundation, MoMa, San Francisco and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. She joined Magnum in 2017 and has been its president since 2022.
