Materia

Bilingual edition (English/Spanish).

Juan Travnik is an Argentine photographer renowned for capturing Buenos Aires' essence and its lesser-known side through a poetic and revealing gaze. MATERIA dives into the intriguing world of Buenos Aires beyond the bustling crowds.

Travnik's photography skilfully captures the city's seedy charm, presenting a mesmerizing array of darkened, abandoned buildings, bricked up windows and tattered posters, unveiling its hidden urban beauty.

Travnik's photographs go beyond mere documentation; they immerse viewers in a rich and tactile experience. From paint samples on walls to layers of cement and fragments of plastic, his work becomes a mesmerizing exploration of the material world he captures.

Since the 1980s, Juan Travnik has been wandering through a ghostly Buenos Aires at dawn recording the blackness of the harsh urban and peripheral landscapes, empty of any human presence.

Over the years, colour has become increasingly important. The moribund shades of his chromatic repertoire transmit his despondency in the face of the crisis that Argentina is currently going through.

Everywhere, the changes to the walls and sidewalks, the splashes and stains here and there, the rust, the cracks and holes, the accumulation of plaster all exude a sombre anguish, bathing the city in a dismal light.