Rules of the Game: A Conversation with Alejandro Cartagena
Please join Aperture and Patricia Conde Galería for a conversation between Alejandro Cartagena, Shana Lopes, and Daniel Saldaña París, and a celebratory launch of Cartagena’s new monograph Ground Rules (Aperture, 2025). The conversation will take place in English and Spanish and will be followed by a book signing and brunch.
Ground Rules is the first comprehensive, fully bilingual survey charting the career of the prolific photographer Alejandro Cartagena. 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. Published to coincide with a mid-career solo exhibition at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, curated by Shana Lopes, Ground Rules deploys a diverse array of photographic formats, from documentary and collage to the appropriation of vernacular photographs and AI-generated imagery, all unified by Cartagena’s commitment to addressing Mexico’s most pressing social and environmental issues with humor and pathos.
This event is presented at Patricia Conde Galería in Mexico City. Space is limited and RSVP is required for all guests.
—
Image: Alejandro Cartagena, from the series What We Fight For: Chiapas, 2010–20, from Alejandro Cartagena: Ground Rules (Aperture, 2025)
Alejandro Cartagena is an artist and editor whose projects employ landscape and portraiture to examine social, urban, and environmental issues. As an editor and self-publisher, Cartagena has created several award-winning titles, such as Suburbia Mexicana (2011), Carpoolers (2014), Before the War (2015), Rivers of Power (2017), A Guide to Infrastructure and Corruption (2017), Santa Barbara Shame on US (2017), and A Small Guide to Homeownership (2020).
Shana Lopes is an assistant curator of photography at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the curator of Alejandro Cartagena: Ground Rules (2025).
Daniel Saldaña París is a writer and translator based in Mexico City, and the author of the novels The Dance and the Fire (2025) and Los nombres de mi padre (2025).
You may also like
Announcing the 2026 Aperture Portfolio Prize Shortlist
Here are the shortlisted artists for Aperture’s annual award, which aims to spotlight new talent in contemporary photography.
The Remains of a Handmade Utopia
In the wooded enclaves of Northern California, Michael Schmelling documents what’s left of the 1960s back-to-the-land movement.