In K.A.P. (Kite Aerial Photography), Esteban Pastorino Diaz explores the image of the urban landscape from the perspective of a remote-controlled camera mounted on a kite. The resultant photographs present a world that appears miniature and toy-like at first glance; in fact, the landscapes are actual locations in Argentina and Greece.

At no time during the process of photographing can Diaz foresee the image captured by the camera. This project originates with this alchemy of chance; yet the images evidence a deeper conceptual motivation. The tilt and shift of the lens produce partially blurred images that create the illusion of a scale model. The momentary loss of reference to the real city leads the viewer toward an imaginary space where it is the photograph alone that constitutes the reference to the reality. Diaz’s technique evidences the representative and re-interpretative role of the photographic media, and calls into question the images of the “real” we take for granted. 

Esteban Pastorino Diaz was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1972. His work has been exhibited in Spain, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, the Netherlands, Columbia, and France at venues including at the Museum of Modern Art in Argentina. His work was first exhibited in the United States at Photographs Do Not Bend Gallery in Houston, TX in 2004. This will be his second solo exhibition in the United States! His photographs are held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in Buenos Aires and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Bahía Blanca, Argentina. Diaz is currently an artist-in-residence at the Rijksakademie Van Beeldende Kusten in Amsterdam.