De-westernised memory is a virtual exhibition that is part of the Red de la Imagen program of Fotoseptiembre | International Photography Festival of Mexico, organized by the Centro de la Imagen. The 2024 edition focuses on the theme of archive and memory, which is why this exhibition brings into dialogue the background and the review process of the digital archive of Ferney Manrique Aragón. This archive consists of images that document his travels through America, Europe, and Asia, experimenting with various analog and digital photographic devices that together form a material memory. This is the first extensive look at the work of Ferney Manrique, featuring previously unpublished photographs whose documentary value begins to reconstruct memory, allowing new stories to be told.
Ferney Manrique Aragón is a Colombian visual artist residing in China. He holds a Master’s degree in Digital Media and Continental Philosophy and is a Ph.D. candidate in Philosophy, Art, and Critical Thought. Since 2007, he has been teaching graphic design and art, combining academic activity with artistic production through analog photography, moving images, and new technologies. His work constantly explores new ways to engage in dialogue with the environment and society. In addition to serving as a physical medium, his work becomes an intellectual tool that maintains a constant relationship with photography to address issues of absence, presence, the moment, temporality, and memory.
“De-westernised Memory” is a selection of photographs taken in Asia, each of which raises questions about memory, the materiality of images, history itself, architecture, and particularly the landscape. The points of dialogue between each photograph respond to abstract, pictorial, or textual values. For this reason, the viewer is invited on an intermedial journey through China, Japan, Malaysia, Abu Dhabi, and Syria, where the photographs focus on nature, reveal how it converges with architecture, and demonstrate the impact of time through monumentality and ruins.