Christian Michael Filardo is a Filipino American photographer living and working in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Filardo uses his camera to record everyday nuances, later grouping images to create narratives from the mundane, intimate, and quiet.
Filardo writes critically for Photo-Eye and PHROOM and is a co-founder of the Santa Fe art space Etiquette. He has exhibited domestically and internationally.
Arroyo Teardrop
When I began photographing in New Mexico something changed. The camera became an essential beam in the architecture of my life. My constant companion. In New Mexico flash floods are common, often washing dirt through what locals refer to as an “Arroyo” or dry creek bed. At times these creek beds overflow and water escapes in all directions. Often, we refer to photographs as momentary. They exist until they don’t anymore. Not unlike the dry matter that exists in the arroyo itself before the monsoon washes everything into oblivion.
All the photographs contained in “Arroyo Teardrop” are documents recorded before they were washed away. Taken over the span of three years, “Arroyo Teardrop” is a collection of images documenting my everyday existence. The mundane to the spectacular, the intimate and bold. A focused look at a single drop of water in the flash flood that roars through the arroyo itself.
To view more of Christian’s work please visit his website.