**Note this piece was published in the Rivard Report on May 23, 2015.
I met Catalina Sour Vasquez five years ago in Paris. This was a sort of transitioning phase in my own personal development and it was for her as well. Confusing, heartbroken, coming of age stories come into play here. Adolescents in adult bodies…we were older than we looked.
Music. Paris by night. All captured by the fluttering of Cat’s camera lens. It was an époque, and it was nostalgic. One wonders how, or if, her craft would have evolved differently had we not experienced these brief, but intense periods and relationships. From a distance there was a distinct optic shift, one that I watched from afar during my travels. Nostalgia was overrated and overdone. Straight lines, cheekbones and runways came into play with the perfect Paris background then later evolved into a vibrant playground transcending both time and space.
Her new series “Projets Dissolvants” is the catalyst for, what I believe, to be the style that she has been looking to develop. Superimposing imagery that caters to the senses with her delicately designed mise en scene, while utilizing color and über surrealist elements, Cat allows the viewer to focus on one specific, if not subconscious, component of the photograph – often addressing the social impact of our mundane everyday lives and the toll that it infiltrates on our mental and physical well being. There are direct references, colors or details that placate to a specific smell, touch or often taste. She will shamelessly critique society’s tendencies for mass consumption utilizing a candy coated stage that is easy for us to digest…and almost impossible to resist.
Hillarey Jones 