Biography:

Nadia Baram lives and works in Mexico City.  She began studying photography when she was 9 years old at The Center for Contemporary Art in Mexico City.  She later got a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University on Photography and Imaging where she graduated with honors.  She has published her work in magazines and newspapers in Spain, Mexico, and the United States. Her work has been part of collective exhibitions in China, Mexico, Brazil and The United States. She worked as videographer for the Hemispheric Institute of Politics and Performance, interned at Magnum Photos in New York, and worked as a still photographer on film projects in Mexico and US. Nadia has also worked as a freelance editorial photographer, and is currently picture editor at zonezero.com and participating in the creation of Pedro Meyer’s online archive.

Statement:

Photographing in China was a wonderful experience for me.  It was incredible that despite not speaking a word of Chinese I never felt unable to communicate.  I fist thought that the language barrier would make it difficult to approach people.  However, I was very surprised to find out that the camera and sign language communicated if not a concrete meaning, yes the general intention and tone of what I wished.  So instead of it being a handicap I found not speaking the same language to be extremely useful, it made me relate to the people in unconventional ways.  This is a series of portraits of people in their environment, but mainly a record of that moment of mutual discovery without words.