Erick Cuevas
Pedro Tzontémoc, "XXIV Lisboa, Portugal" in series "El ser y la nada"
2001
I chose this image because of my fascination with deceptively simple images. At first glance, it appears to be a demonstration of strong contrast and symmetry, but when given the proper amount of time to observe, the viewer realizes it contains so much more. The photographer created this image in a series with the goal to capture both the greatness and the fragility of man. I believe he has succeeded.
The human silhouette contrasts with an immense man-made space, centering the image. The figure has gone from one end in the confines of a tunnel, a true feat of human ingenuity, into the nothingness and the uncertainty of blinding light. I found it brilliant the photographer created a statement of the hollowness of man's search to construct meaning out of their lives to feel whole, within the literal sense of hollowness, a tunnel. The meditative and sparse nature of this image allows me to better take in a concept that usually makes me uneasy and nags constantly in the back of my mind.
