Héctor Méndez Caratini presents a selection of photographs, videos, and other experimental media he has worked on throughout his long career. “The sequence of his numerous photographic essays, produced between 1970 and 2024, shows the artist immersed in a ceaseless pilgrimage, camera in hand, driven by experimentation, enjoyment, and the search for self.” “Caratini introduces us to the plurality of traditional religious practices in the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia. In doing so, he shows us that, as a photographer, he carries with his cameras a whirlwind of ideas about time, faith, the tropics, islands, light, and shadows.”
Libya Gonzalez (Curator).

“Her mastery of the photo essay has allowed her visual storytelling, the use of photography as a resource to tell stories and ideas. Her mastery of photographic languages—black and white, color, and digital—has allowed her expressive freedom and the ability to move across multiple media (paper, fabric, canvas) and formats (traditional or mural) to speak from a visual field where the image is the focus of reflection that transcends photography while simultaneously containing it.”
Kirenia Rodríguez (Curator).

“His photographic production has oscillated between two vast fields of knowledge, in a fluid and recurring manner: science and art. On the one hand, the medical study of ocular health has been his primary profession for more than fifty years, concentrating on the visual documentation and analysis of its pathologies in hospitals in Puerto Rico. Likewise, for much of his long life, the study of botany has formed another of his main focuses of interest, which has led him to be the founder and owner, since 2000, of the Heliconia Conservation Center in Puerto Rico, in the Pulguillas Mountains (Coamo). His work raising awareness about the dangers of deforestation and extinction has also led him to exhaustively document with his camera natural landscapes in Asia and America, as well as thousands of plant and animal species.”
Laura Bravo (Curator).

“Héctor Méndez Caratini's photographs are iconic. As one of our leading photographers, he had the opportunity to capture both public figures and anonymous individuals. His portraits elevate the subject, focusing on the face, body, and attributes or elements that identify the sitter. This gives them an air of monumentality very similar to painting, a genre that deeply interested him and with which he establishes dialogues in several works.”
Mercedes Trelles (Curator).

Héctor Méndez Caratini was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1949. From 1968 to 1970 he studied Liberal Arts at Boston University. He received a BA from the University of Puerto Rico in 1972; a Photography Certificate from the Germaine School of Photography in 1973; and from 1975 to 1976 he completed his master's studies at the Center for Advanced Studies of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. The photographer/video artist resides in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He has been awarded the following: 2004 AICA Award (Puerto Rico Chapter of the International Association of Art Critics) for best retrospective exhibition of 2003, San Juan, PR. 2001 Armando Mandín Rodríguez Award, First Prize in Photojournalism, Senate of Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR. 1997 Guanín Award, Association of Sales and Marketing Executives of San Juan. 1993 II National Fine Arts Exhibit, Honorable Mention for Velaciones (computer art), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, San Juan, PR. 1992 QuickTime Film Festival, First Prize for video, María Lionza, San Francisco, CA. 1991 Kodachrome Award of Excellence, Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, NY.

https://hectormendezcaratini.com/

The exhibition runs until August 31, 2025.