Las flores mueren dos veces
When Mexican photographer Cristóbal Ascencio was fifteen years old, his father died. It wasn’t until he was thirty that he was told his father had committed suicide. It felt like he was losing his father for the second time. From that moment on, he began to revisit and re-view images, places and memories.
He became obsessed with gaps in his memory, and began giving new life to old family images and spending time in the garden where his father, who was a gardener, had last worked. In a process of deconstruction, he introduces glitches and digital errors into the image, as a metaphor for damaged memories.
At the same time, he uses contemporary techniques to revive his father’s plants – which are still growing – as a way of reconnecting with him. The 3D models, which use virtual reality and photogrammetry, allude to the malleability of memory. The plants extend a bridge to a new world, with new stories. ‘Las flores mueren dos veces’ is thus an act of reconciliation and an invitation to reflect on the relationships we have and had.