Postcard for Visual Aids, Sikkema Jenkins & Co Gallery, New York, New York
Seven Donkeys Painted like Zebras & Me — The Zonkey Series:
The Zonkey, Burro Cebra, or Tijuana Donkey are donkeys dyed to look like zebras and hitched to the front of brightly painted carts. Thousands of people have sat atop these painted donkeys, don a sombrero, and have their portrait taken by the photographer/donkey handlers, known as Burreros; a hereditary profession now on the brink of disappearing into urban folklore.
Zonkey photographs stretch back a hundred years into history and across the globe; the first of these photographs were taken in the early 1900s. The Zonkey Series is part of an ongoing project that explores the unique Zonkey tradition of Tijuana as an allegory, examining the interstitial border-city through the lens of the last Zonkey carts on Revolution Boulevard/Avenida Revolución; as well as functioning as an exploration of the significance of the autoportrait in contemporary photography; as a result the project inspires a reevaluation of the idea of border identity—both personal and of the city—and of the photographic portrait.
As of 2012, there are only seven Zonkey carts remaining in Tijuana, heirs of a century long tradition likely to end with them. The series documents each of the remaining seven carts along Revolution Boulevard and embraces the photographers hand in the process by showcasing the images as they were taken by the Burreros, continuing a century long tradition of photography and culture in México.
The Zonkey, Burro Cebra, or Tijuana Donkey are donkeys dyed to look like zebras and hitched to the front of brightly painted carts. Thousands of people have sat atop these painted donkeys, don a sombrero, and have their portrait taken by the photographer/donkey handlers, known as Burreros; a hereditary profession now on the brink of disappearing into urban folklore.
Zonkey photographs stretch back a hundred years into history and across the globe; the first of these photographs were taken in the early 1900s. The Zonkey Series is part of an ongoing project that explores the unique Zonkey tradition of Tijuana as an allegory, examining the interstitial border-city through the lens of the last Zonkey carts on Revolution Boulevard/Avenida Revolución; as well as functioning as an exploration of the significance of the autoportrait in contemporary photography; as a result the project inspires a reevaluation of the idea of border identity—both personal and of the city—and of the photographic portrait.
As of 2012, there are only seven Zonkey carts remaining in Tijuana, heirs of a century long tradition likely to end with them. The series documents each of the remaining seven carts along Revolution Boulevard and embraces the photographers hand in the process by showcasing the images as they were taken by the Burreros, continuing a century long tradition of photography and culture in México.
"Paco"
Photograph by "Enrique Navarro"
Zonkey owner, "Ignacio Navarro"
"Tony" Photograph by "Ismael"
Ruben, photograph by Enrique Ramirez
"Monica Lewinsky"
Photograph by "Tony"
"Béba"
Photograph by "Acebado"
"Bimbo"
Photograph by "Tony"
"Junior"
Photograph by "Juan Antonio Gonzales"
photograph by Heidi Cramer.
For a very short teaser of the series, please visit: http://youtu.be/Wwp77SBk9d8
Photograph by Heidi Cramer
Very special thanks to my collaborators and documentation crew: Heidi Cramer, Daniela Laniado, Alejandra Villalba Garcia, and Fernando Franchini
Photograph by "Ismael"
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