Kris Mendoza: Communion Artist Conversation

About

Communion is an ongoing body of photographs that explore spaces of refuge within my queer community. The title, Communion, is a reference to the intimate exchanges captured in the work. Last summer, I started creating photographs with a simple set of parameters: I could only use natural light, close friends, not strangers, incorporate the natural environment and work exclusively in black and white. Initially, these parameters were heavily influenced by the works of twentieth-century artists, George Platt Lynes and PaJaMa, with whom I shared a spiritual connection through their careful attention to light, form and space. Perhaps most meaningful is the personal nature of the photographs. Likewise, I share the desire of finding meaning within my own experiences and relationships, pulling from these references as a means of exploring refuge through community and its perennial relevance to queer life.

The people featured in the images: Johnny Williams, Jason Pérez, Liony García, Peter Redmond, Long Cheng, Kyle Sullivan, Nico Fernandez-Kiray, Sammy Eath

— Kris Mendoza

Kris Mendoza (b. 1992), a self-taught photographer and visual artist living in Brooklyn, NY, dives into an obsession for preserving time and creating staged vignettes, often with a highly-compositional nature. Since graduating with a BFA in design in 2015, Mendoza has looked to self-portraiture and writing to explore issues of masculinity, sexuality and identity. In mid-2020, just after moving to New York City, Mendoza started documenting his family, friends and lovers as a means of navigating both the pandemic and finding meaning within the feeling of lost time. Through this, he found his preferred medium of black and white film, usually inside a medium or large-format camera. Recently, Mendoza’s work explores refuge and self-inquiry, drawing on intimate experiences and constructed scenes that reveal the hidden dynamics of relationships as they evolve in his life.

Find them: @krismendoza_