Julián Cardona (photojournalist) explained

Julián Cardona (18 August 1960  - 21 September 2020) was a Mexican photojournalist who was known for documenting poverty and violence in the city of Ciudad Juárez.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Early life

Julián Cardona was born in Zacatecas, Mexico, on August 18, 1960. His family moved to Ciudad Juárez when he was a young child. Raised by his grandparents, and with only a ninth grade education, he taught himself to use a camera professionally by age twenty. He worked in the maquiladora industry until 1991, when he moved back to Zacatecas to teach photography.[7]

Career

Although he had earlier done some photography for tabloids, in 1993 Cardona began to work professionally as a photojournalist at the Ciudad Juárez newspapers El Fronterizo and El Diario de Juárez. He co-authored many newspaper and magazine articles along with several books, including Juarez: The Laboratory of Our Future and Exodus/Exodo, both with journalist Charles Bowden. His photographs have also been profiled in several major exhibitions, including Nothing to See (1995), Borders and Beyond (2001), Lines of Sight: Views of the U.S./Mexican Border (2002),[8] Photography Past/Forward: Aperture at 50 (2003), the History of the Future (2009),[9] and Stardust: Memories of the Calle Mariscal (2013).[10] Cardona worked for several years as a Reuters correspondent in Mexico beginning in 2009, and he also was a photography editor in Mexico City. During the final years of his life he worked as a freelance journalist and photographer.

Impact

Cardona was considered to be one of the most important photographers documenting the economic challenges and criminal drug-related violence in Mexico along the U.S. border, especially in Ciudad Juárez. His photographs were sometimes criticized for their graphic portrayal of violence, including torture, rape, and murder victims.[11] Other critics observed that Cardona linked the extreme violence and femicide in border cities like Juarez with globalization and especially the influx of Maquiladoras (factories),[12] something that Cardona himself acknowledged and emphasized in interviews.[13] [14] [15] [16] Interviewed on the PBS NewsHour in 2012, Cardona said that "It's an important story, how a city becomes the most violent city on earth. I was able to do it, and I'm OK with that. It's my job."[17]

Publications

Death

Cardona died of natural causes on September 21, 2020, in Ciudad Juárez.[19] [20]

Legacy

Cardona received the Cultural Freedom Prize from the Lannan Foundation in 2004.[21] Cardona’s photographic archives are preserved by the Tom and Ethel Bradley Center in the University Library, Special Collections and Archives, California State University, Northridge.[22] [23]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: About Julián Cardona (1960-2020) . . Tom and Ethel Bradley Center Photographs . California State University, Northridge . July 30, 2020 .
  2. Web site: Julián Cardona Collection . . March 12, 2019 . Peek in the Stacks . Oviatt Library, California State University, Northridge . July 30, 2020 .
  3. Bowden . Charles . Spring 2000 . Camera of Dirt: Juarez Photographer Takes Forbidden Images in Foreign-Owned Factories . Aperture . 159 . 26–33 . November 4, 2024.
  4. Molloy . Molly . April 2, 2016 . Economic Violence in Ciudad Juárez: An annotated conversation with journalist Julián Cardona about the economic history of Juárez-and how understanding that history helps explain the extreme violence experienced there from 2008 to 2012 . NACLA Report on the Americas . 48 . 2 . 157–166 . 10.1080/10714839.2016.1201275 . 185682599 . July 30, 2020.
  5. Bowden . Charles . December 1996 . While you were sleeping: in Juarez, Mexico, photographers expose the violent realities of free trade . Harper's Magazine . November 4, 2024 .
  6. Web site: Photojournalist Julian Cardona on Documenting the Evolution of Juarez . Lum . Jessica . July 11, 2012 . Petapixel . August 2, 2020 .
  7. Web site: Julián Cardona . . Lannan Art Collection . Lannan Foundation . August 2, 2020 .
  8. News: Cheng . Scarlet . March 24, 2002 . Looking Both Ways Across the Border . Los Angeles Times . August 1, 2020 .
  9. Web site: The History of the Future . Sutor . Nancy . 2009 . Blue Star Contemporary . August 2, 2020 .
  10. Web site: Stardust: Memories of the Calle Mariscal . . 2013 . Rubin Center for the Visual Arts . . August 1, 2020 .
  11. Book: Driver, Alice . 2015 . More or Less Dead: Feminicide, Haunting, and the Ethics of Representation in Mexico . Tucson . University of Arizona Press . 26-31 . November 4, 2024 .
  12. Volk . Steven . Schlotterbeck . Marian . 2007 . Gender, Order, and Femicide: Reading the Popular Culture of Murder in Ciudad Juárez . Aztlán . 32 . 1 . 53– . July 31, 2020.
  13. News: Isaad . Virginia . April 2012 . More than Words: Photojournalist captures the violence in Mexico . El Nuevo Sol . July 31, 2020 .
  14. Driver . Alice . Cardona . Julián . 2012 . En Juárez la fotografía como tal muestra sus límites: una entrevista con el fotoperiodista Julián Cardona . Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies . 16 . 183–200 . 10.1353/hcs.2012.0007 . 144951529 . August 2, 2020.
  15. Web site: Mexican Photographer Captures Shades of Juarez . Warner . Margaret . June 29, 2012 . . August 2, 2020 .
  16. Web site: Photographer captures suffering, endurance in 'murder capital of the world' . Martinez . Michael . Hurtado . Jacqueline . April 16, 2012 . CNN.com . August 2, 2020 .
  17. . June 29, 2012 . Mexican Photographer Captures Shades of Juarez . Video . en . September 23, 2020 . .
  18. Web site: Nada Que Ver: On Julián Cardona and Alice Leora Briggs's "Abecedario de Juárez" . Benavides . Jose Luis . November 21, 2022 . . November 21, 2022.
  19. News: Cono . Luis Carlos . September 22, 2020 . Fallece reconocido fotografo juarense . El Diario . September 23, 2020.
  20. Web site: Remembering Julian Cardona . Benavides . Jose Luis . 2020 . Los Angeles United Methodist Museum of Social Justice . October 4, 2020 .
  21. Web site: Julián Cardona . Sáenz . Benjamin . 2005 . CUE Art Foundation . August 2, 2020 .
  22. Web site: CSUN Acquires Works by Mexican Photographer Julián Cardona . . January 16, 2013 . CSUN Today . California State University, Northridge . July 30, 2020 .
  23. Web site: Guide to the Julián Cardona Collection . Hernandez . Lucy . 2012 . Online Archive of California . August 2, 2020 .

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