The Mexico Journeys
The Mexico Journeys is a roadmap of what it takes to connect with others over time, space and cultures - and the rewards of a long-term, unhurried connection. The photo essay utilizes long-form photojournalism and journal entries to amplify the voices of the global south via the documentation of Maria, her family, and their journey.
The story that unfolds over the 24 visits and over 20 years is a simple, yet universal story about friendship, trust, and how strangers can become family. But somewhere along the journey, the work shifted to include the coming-of-age story of a young photographer who keeps her promise to show up, through the death of her own father, the heartbreak of lost relationships, and the age-old struggle of an artist to pay rent, with enough left over for film, paper, and darkroom chemicals. Simultaneously poetic and journalistic, the traditional documentary steadily transformed itself into creative nonfiction. The result is an unexpected story.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
DUANE MICHALS PHOTOGRAPHER
"The time, patience, and devotion that Annie Appel takes to produce her work is profoundly selfless. This series demonstrates a commitment to photography that simply cannot be faked. These are extraordinary photos of ordinary people doing ordinary things."
Duane Michals /Photo: A. Appel
SALLY MANN PHOTOGRAPHER
"For decades, Appel has immersed herself in the ordinary lives of these dauntless and loving people, making them her own family in the process. Clearly working in the lineage of 20th-century greats, she compassionately, but truthfully, shares their journeys with us."
Sally Mann/Photo: M. Hood
LESLIE ULLMAN POET
“I found myself enjoying the whole thing, as though I were reading a long novel; the constant, rippling, serpentine changes in the family´s circumstances.”
Leslie Ullman /Foto: A. Appel
Leslie Jamison /Photo: B. Sheehan
LESLIE JAMISON AUTHOR
“I find the scope and depth of your work incredibly moving. It´s really extraordinary, and the way the text and images work together -as well as the way we journey across the years - is just so electric, and gripping, and upsetting. It´s unlike anything I´ve ever really encountered.”
SHANNON PERICH CURATOR
“The documentary style in which Ms. Appel operated over a long period of time to get to know Maria, her country, and her life is rooted in classical long-form photo essays like that of W. Eugene Smith, but reflective of the current era of the engaged observer´s mode of photojournalism. This is a project that has a wide-ranging impact within the fields of photography, cultural history, and human studies.”
Shannon Perich
Foto: M.W. Foeller
ABOUT ANNIE APPEL
Annie Appel’s photography is an invitation to look closer and to feel what it means to be human. For nearly fifty years, documenting the lives of those she loves, and loving through the lens of a camera, her work encompasses a variety of cultures, eras, and perspectives. Her own ego is dissolved in the present moment, open and receptive as she embraces the raw honesty of her surroundings. We may remember in partial black and white, but she gives us the courage to look at the colors enmeshed between, to notice the rich and pungent patterns of life. Her photos are mirrors of the human soul, and often her audience sees themselves more vividly revealed. With Annie’s art, we are not spectators; we are participants.
Appel embraced photography at the age of 10. A documentary/fine arts photographer, her work can be found in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, as well as private and corporate collections throughout the United States.
VIDEOS ABOUT THE MEXICO JOURNEYS
(2 min - 2018)
(7 min - 2023)
(6 min - 2022)
(7 min - 2006)
(5 min - 2001)