Alexander Diaz is a photographer living in St.Augustine, who teaches at UNF, here in Jacksonville. After many email conversations we have compiled this interview. Diaz’s work is far more complicated and involved then we were able to talk about in this short interview. But I hope this gives you at the very least an overview of who he is and what he does.

CJ: Tell us a little about your upbringing. Where did you grow up? What brought you to St. Augustine?
AD: I was born in Bronx, NY in 1976. Not long after my birth, my father joined the army and we moved to Louisiana. After a few years in Louisiana, we were relocated to Germany. We moved back and forth between Germany and Louisiana until we finally moved back to New York when my father retired from the army when I was seven years old. In New York, my parents’ relationship dictated where we lived. When my parents were fighting, my brother and I went with my mom to stay at my grandparents’ house in Throgs Neck (The Bronx). During times of reconciliation, we all lived together as a family in different parts of Long Island.

After years of emotional turmoil, my mother ended this dysfunctional relationship with my father. While pregnant with my sister, my mother uprooted my brother and myself to Florida in order to establish a new life away from father. As an adolescent, it was difficult to adjust to my new surroundings in Florida. Within a few years, however, I lost my New York accent, cut off my rattail, and assimilated into Florida’s beach culture by getting a surfer haircut (i.e. shaved on the sides with my bangs in my face) and purchased a Billabong jacket (i.e. multi-colored corduroy jacket). For the past nineteen years I have been living in Florida, and I currently reside in St. Augustine.

CJ: How did you get into this field?
AD: As an adolescent, I was fascinated by the landscapes of Ansel Adams and PBS documentaries; they both portrayed something exotic and exciting. Adams’ landscapes inspired me to find similar untouched and magnificent views to photograph, while the PBS documentaries made me to romanticize about photographing and exploring unfamiliar places. I gravitated towards photography because I wanted to mimic the documentary approach and while capturing beautiful scenes. My first couple years of owning a camera consisted of me randomly photographing just about everything that crossed my path. I was so passionate about the medium that I enrolled at the University of North Florida to obtain a degree in photography. Although I was already familiar with the technical aspects of photography when I entered the program, my studies broaden my perceptions of what photography could be.

A camera was not only a device that could be used to record events and scenes; it could also be utilized to produce art. This idea was not totally foreign to me at the time, but it was reinforced and clarified by my professors. After graduating with a B.A. in Photography, I decided to continue my education and further explore the medium by attending graduate school at the University of Florida. Graduate school was an enriching experience that helped evolve my work into what it is today. In May of 2006, I graduated with my M.F.A., and I started teaching at the University of North Florida as a Visiting Instructor in photography in fall 2006.

CJ: Describe your work. What influences your work?
AD: The photographic work I am presenting represents and characterizes some of my ideas about place and how these concepts relate to ideas about the natural world. I intend for my pictures to be a commentary on the rationalization and transformation of the place I live, Florida.Since the end of World War II, suburbia has exploded across the American landscape largely due to a constantly increasing population and government subsidy. Although, this phenomenon has given many people the opportunity to own homes and to escape from the problems they face in cities, paradoxically developing suburbanization has consumed and continues to consume large amounts of natural habitat. This has resulted in the degradation of life for all living beings. As humans, we are sacrificing the aesthetics of open places, natural heritage, and resources that have sustained us through all of our existence, and we are trading this for the plenitude of homes, roads, shopping centers, and representations of the natural world.

This body of work critically explores aspects of our loss of natural habitat to development. More specifically, the work concentrates on the simulations of nature that have occurred in the wake of what local and state officials have propagated as progress. My approach to the subject matter is satirical and ironic, and I hope my work raises consciousness and questions. My strategy is to seduce the viewer with what at first appears to be traditional, natural and scenic photographs that, on further inspection, disclose something that is not quite right. I hope to contribute to the ongoing discourse surrounding human beings’ use of the land we live on and foreground the short-sighted consumerist mind set that allows us to repress and deny the problematic aspects of our land use practices.

Both my passion for nature and the region in which I live have inspired me to create work about this particular subject, while my style and approach to art making has been influenced by numerous other sources from pop culture to literature. The most influential factor on my work has been my formal education. My education introduced me to an array of artists, styles, movements, and theories that I extracted from to formulate my own ideas and vision. My professors played a critical role in the development of my work. For example, Dominick Martorelli, a professor at the University of North Florida, contributed to my understanding of how photography can be an art, while my professors at graduate school, especially Barbara Revelle, helped expand my critical thinking skills and encouraged the further development of my work.

CJ: Your stance on man’s infringement on nature is evident even before reading the last couple of paragraphs. What is your take on one of the largest development projectsthis area has seen recently, the town of Nocatee, in the Ponte Vedra area?
AD: Nocatee setting land aside for a nature preserve doesn’t mitigate the depressing feelings I get when I think about the 14,000 homes that will replace thousands of acres of natural habitat. I find it irritating that our public officials encourage and approve such blatant examples of suburban sprawl. I can’t think of any reason, besides greed and ignorance, why such an enormous project would be built in the middle of the woods. The advocates of this development say it will increase tax revenue and bring jobs to the area, however I feel that there are other sustainable ways of achieving this. Creating jobs or increasing tax revenue doesn’t have to adversely affect people’s quality of life. The area is not only going to lose acres of natural beauty, but this type of development will encourage other sprawling developments that will further strain the area’s resources, infrastructure and rural character. If you drive north from St. Augustine on US-1 (US- 1 is the major highway next to Nocatee), one can already see strip-malls sprouting up on either side of the road in anticipation of people moving to the area. In addition to the construction of new businesses, there are plans to six-lane US-1 north to St. Augustine Road in Duval County to accommodate the future traffic. Ten to fifteen years from now, the US-1 area in northern St. Johns County will most likely be the equivalent to present-day Blanding Blvd. It will probably have finer restaurants and upscale shopping, but it will still be littered with strip malls, subdivisions and the automobiles that will be commuting from these places.

CJ: What advice do you have for other artists, if any?
AD: Create art that you are passionate about and research artists that are doing or have done similar work.
-Explore fields outside of art that might inform your work. Taking a sociology class or reading a book on physics might expand your knowledge on a particular subject. This may result in making more insightful and dynamic work.
-Go to galleries and museums to be inspired and to be an active participant in your local art community.
-Keep an open mind, think random thought, and floss you teeth.

CJ: As a former student, and now an instructor at UNF, what kind of insight can you offer for students intersted in the undergraduate program for photography and/ or studio art?As a UNF graduate myself, I have found that there is a certain stigmaattached to the school, unfortuantely. In many eyes, it is seen asmore of a “back-up school” then anything else. I feel quite the opposite, and I am wondering what your take on it all is.
AD: UNF is too young to have one of the most prestigious art departments in the region, but if one compares the cost, quality of education, and class size with other regional institutions it’s obvious UNF is an excellent value. UNF’s art programs are staffed with a diversity of innovative teachers who make up a quality department that is noticeably maturing. The photography program, for example, has grown tremendously since I’ve graduated in 2002. Not only has the program expanded the classes offered per semester, it also moved into a brand new building to accommodate the growth. To make sure the quality of the photography program doesn’t deteriorate as it grows, a cap of twenty students has been placed on studio classes. There are currently four studio professors/instructors that teach a broad range of photography classes from digital to alternative processes. They vary in scope and approaches, but students can expect to advance their technical, artistic, and critical thinking skills with each class.

CJ: Favorite place to view art in town? Favorite/ Ideal place for your work to be viewed?
AD: I do not have one particular place I like to view art in the Jacksonville area, but I often go to the same few galleries. For instance, I enjoy the J. Johnson gallery and JMOCA’s changing exhibition galleries for their diversity, scale, and quality of work. Also, I like the Opaq gallery for its experimental and conceptual art. Living in St. Augustine, however, I usually go to Screen Arts because it is one of the few galleries in the area that does not exhibit palm trees and other tourist art.

CJ: As someone who has only been to a handful of St. Augustine artwalks, I know little of the turnout and general mood for art events there. Comparing it to that of the openings here in Jacksonville, how does it measure up?
AD: The St. Augustine Art Walk takes place on the first Friday of each month. It gets a substantial amount of foot traffic for its size. The area it covers is smaller than the Jacksonville Art Walk, but the galleries are more concentrated. King Street is probably the most active during the festivities. The street is divided by US-1 and each side has two distinctive scenes. The east side has galleries and businesses that display art and serve free wine and snacks. The art tends to be more commercial and the subjects usually deal with conventional Florida scenes. The crowd is a mix of locals and tourists who tend to be older. The west side of the street has a few spaces that exhibits edgier work, a few coffee shops and eateries, and draws a much younger crowd. Instead of wine, free beer (usually Miller High Life) is served and the galleries tend to stay open later.

St Augustine’s Art Walk could be better, but I’m grateful the town even has one. While I’m not enthusiastic about most of the work I see at the monthly shows, at least these events get people looking at art. Flagler College recently finished constructing an art museum conveniently located off King street, so this should benefit the local scene.

CJ: What are your thoughts regarding the Jacksonville art scene? What are your suggestions for improvement?
AD: The future seems promising, but as of now, the Jacksonville art scene is underdeveloped for a metropolitan area. The art scene that we do have is fragmented. There are a few pockets but generally speaking there are no major areas where contemporary galleries are clustered together. The galleries that show contemporary art are scattered over a large area and at times are disconnected from their surrounding environment. For example, Jacksonville’s two major universities (i.e. JU and UNF) are both segregated from the rest of the community. A pedestrian is never going to stumble upon either one of their galleries because the schools are tailored for the automobile. One has to get in his/her car and make an effort to view an exhibition. The sprawling nature of Jacksonville discourages gallery hopping and art districts; consequently, people are not exposed to art as often as they could be. The Jacksonville art community needs a centralized location that is pedestrian friendly to unite and stimulate the arts.

There are numerous remedies that may improve the Jacksonville art scene, but I believe the downtown area becoming denser and vibrant would be the catalyst for improving the situation. If the population increases and new businesses open in the downtown area, culture will flourish. As the city gets denser and foot traffic increases, there will be more incentives for galleries, alternative venues, and social gathering spots to open. In theory, art districts will develop and the Jacksonville art scene will become more concentrated and dynamic. For downtown to turn into the cultural hub, a broad range of people from different classes, professions, and ethnicities need to move to the area. Many of these ideas are already being implemented, so I think it is a matter of time before the art scene takes off.

CJ: Where can we see your work? What can we expect to see in the future?
AD: By the time this interview is published all the shows that I am currently participating in will probably have already ended.

Here are my most recent:
Flood The Beaver Jacksonville, FL. Ended Nov 21
UNF’s Annual Art and Design Faculty Exhibition University Gallery Jacksonville, FL. Until Dec 12
Earth Matters International Art Exhibit University Gallery (The University of Texas-Pan American)Edinburg, TX. Ended Nov 16

I am waiting to hear back from a few juried shows, but nothing concrete for now. I am currently developing a few projects and I will be sending the work out over the winter break.