‘OTROMUNDO’, a space dedicated to the beauty of human beings and nature in 450 photos.

Published November 25th, 2021

“OTROMUNDO” is a photo gallery located on the street of Hernandez Macias, where more than 400 photographs that have been captured in different corners of the world are exhibited, a space dedicated to the beauty of the human, the magic of nature.

Each of the compositions has a different story, and its author Varial Cédric Houin can tell it to you.

Varial is a photographer and director of documentary films, originally from the European country France, which over 10 years ventured around the world, entering the most hidden communities to portray the faces of its members, in his gallery is captured the work of these 10 years of adventure, characters that paint the reality of each of these cultures that are in oblivion.

It all began in 2011 on a trip to Afghanistan, a place where almost no one tends to visit because of the complicated situation.

“I started 10 years ago after many years of studio photography to dedicate my work to projects, stories that interested me to put the image at the service of something that goes beyond the commercial, I started traveling in 2011, I came from a life of expedition, I am a mountaineer, mountaineer, and I started in complicated trips, complicated countries, with very complicated accessibility, I started with a project in Afghanistan, a two-month trip walking through mountains to find forgotten tribes on the roof of the world at five thousand meters above sea level, this project has had a very strong impact because not many people travel to Afghanistan,” said the photographer.

He does not work for anyone, he is autonomous in all his projects, there is a collaboration with foundations but he tries to have a very neutral, personal discourse that goes beyond what is expected.

His project of a nomadic Ghilji tribe in this South Asian country won him a National Geographic 2012 photography award.

After Afghanistan, he realized that what really interested him were the forgotten or unknown stories, and the struggles of cultures for their survival, their territory, their language.

“Throughout 10 years of work, my vision on the documentary is to teach transitions from one world to the other, from one situation to the other, from one season to the other, in Afghanistan is that if the disappearance of these tribes that survive and are the last, and are not recognized by the government either, in Ecuador is the exploitation of the entire national territory for oil and are native families of their territories that fight with the means of today, with computers, with email, with letters to the government to defend their original lands,” he detailed.

His work in photography and documentary is very honest, very transparent, Varial lives with these people, people who have even joined the guerrilla, how does he record that, he lives with them, shares their stories, shares their struggle, shares their tears, shares the urgency to be understood, to be seen, he acts as a bridge between cultures, he returns with a task that can help part of these communities to be recognized, to have their messages heard, not only by the media.

“There are people who come here to the gallery and realize that they have not seen this content, because it is not under any editorial, it is not under any planned story that we have to tell,” he emphasized.

Visit this impressive photo gallery in San Miguel de Allende, a work of 10 years of adventures of the French photographer Varial Cédric. If you are interested in one of the compositions, you can buy it from him, he has prints from $500 for the 8×12 inch photograph and up to 10 thousand pesos for the 40×60 which is the largest print.
Admission is free, it is located at Hernández Macías #42, Centro.