Alejandro Cartagena: Ground Rules

A comprehensive survey of a prolific photographer who fearlessly charts the dreams and dystopias of Mexico today.

Ground Rules is the first comprehensive, fully bilingual survey charting the career of the prolific photographer Alejandro Cartagena, author of the celebrated photobooks Carpoolers and A Small Guide to Homeownership. Cartagena is known for his formally engaging and socially incisive images that span the politics of the US-Mexico border, suburban sprawl, and the increasing wealth disparities in North America--and his prodigious output is unified by a commitment to addressing Mexico's most pressing social and environmental issues. In Ground Rules, Cartagena deploys a diverse array of photographic formats, from documentary and collage to the appropriation of vernacular photographs and AI-generated imagery. His work amounts to an urgent statement full of humor and pathos about the mechanisms of power across nations and cultures and the network of images that shape our perception of the world today.