Tony Mendoza
Halloween 1998
About the Artwork
Tony Mendoza’s Lydia and Halloween series features his daughter, Lydia, in four different Halloween costumes chronicled throughout her life. Mendoza hand-dates each of his editions based off the year the photograph was taken rather than the year it was printed. The artist also includes a brief description beneath each image, providing viewers with a short story within his greater concept.
Curatorial Opinion
In this episode from the Lydia and Halloween series, Mendoza’s daughter Lydia strikes a powerful pose. Gazing up from under makeup-enhanced eyelids, she puts one hand on her waist as the other alights on a pedestal. Mendoza captures the defiance in his nine-year-old, a characteristic of the queen she imitates. Stark contrasts between the highlights of the tunic and the shadows of the background punch up this photograph, as do the glistening fabrics of her costume.
About the Artist
Tony Mendoza (b.1941, Havana, Cuba) is a visual and verbal storyteller. Underneath his photographs he will often write a brief anecdote, sometimes as few as five words, both witty and sincere. He trains his lens mainly on people, with the occasional dog or cat.
Read MoreAbout the Process
Haystack collaborates with traditional printmakers and digital printers to ensure each artist’s print reflects the most important aspects of their studio practice. An experienced printer himself, each print in the Lydia and Halloween series was printed by the artist. Every Archival Pigment Print was digitally printed with a lab-calibrated inkjet printer using pigment-based inks (this process is also known as Giclée printing). Canson Baryta Paper was specifically developed for inkjet technology and offers the look and feel of an original darkroom print, making it an ideal choice for black and white photography.
