Fabulous Lady, Oaxaca, Mexico (from the Oaxacan Portraits series)

Nancy Jo Edelstein

Seattle-based photographer Nancy Edelstein traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico in 2005/'06 as part of a traveling workshop in photography, hosted by Mary Ellen Mark. From her time there she compiled a portfolio of images of people in their daily lives, simply titled "Oaxacan Portraits".

Here, she captures a woman in a bold-patterend blouse and matching headpiece, standing against an interior courtyard of an old adobe house, surrounded by carved masks hanging from the wooden beams. Her expression is delightfully coy and appears to verge on laughter, and lends an intimacy to the composition.

Edelstein comments about this series on her website: landed in Oaxaca, Mexico, loaded with photographic equipment and the goal of capturing images of the people and place. Without speaking Spanish, it was a challenge finding access to interesting opportunities. Eventually, I determined my best option was to hire a local driver who was willing to open up his connections to me for the next few days. My wonderful new partner Juan was more than ready to share his friends, family and resources to help me find the opportunities I was looking for. I returned the following year for more, only to discover that he had moved away. Luckily, I was able to reconnect with some of those I had already known, and one thing led to another.

Environmental portraiture combines my love of space and object with the humanity of a face, a gesture, a pose. Even with the language barrier, it was never a problem to capture the unique dignity and beauty of the faces and backgrounds in Oaxaca that filled my lens.

More work from this portfolio can be found on her website, NancyEdelsteinPhotos.com.