Truths & Fictions: Pedro Meyer

The photographs of Pedro Meyer invoke the notion of "simulation" to the extent that they mimic the real without attempting to replace it. Or, to put it in other terms, Meyer's images call attention to themselves as constructions--through his choice of subject matter, scheme of composition--even as they employ digital technology to render the effect of a seamless whole (blending together several source images), a "magical" image composed of fragments. In his book Truths & Fictions, Meyer explains his project, characterizing the decision to forsake documentary realism (which he had practiced for more than twenty years) as an effort to expand the camera's range of vision: "the experience in a traditional photographic representation has been limited . . . to those elements which the lens was able to capture" (108). However, he insists, his work remains faithful to the notion of documenting reality--"All my images are about documenting experiences--not fabricating them" (108)--with the added dimension of the photographer's personal contribution. Clearly Meyer's statement here continues the tradition of Robert Frank, valorizing an idiosyncratic view over an "objective" perspective.

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