"Honest Textures: Photographic Representation of the Utilitarian Craft Artifact in Popular Markets"

Autonomous University Corporation of Nariño

Díaz-Piedrahita (1981) became a pioneer in the study of popular markets in Colombia, carrying out a photographic recording process to develop a study on plant leaves as a utilitarian resource in the preparation, packaging and consumption of food (Gaviria Arbeláez, 2020).

Seeking to provide solutions to their daily needs, human beings adapt to the conditions of their environment, transforming leaves, fibers, fruits, seeds and stems into handcrafted implements of a utilitarian nature.

From these processes, where fibers and natural materials are transformed into diverse products, an aesthetics of the useful is proposed, in which beauty is considered to exist in an object to the extent that it is functional and fulfills its purpose, as stated by Franklin (as cited in Pulos, 1983) and Villegas (1988).

Through this photographic exploration, a visual record is made of diverse handcrafted artifacts, mainly utilitarian, that find in the market place a space for their commercialization, exhibition and conservation, detailing what Pulos (1983) defines as the honest textures, which show the handcrafted production of these implements and the organic imperfection of the natural materials used for their elaboration.