Documentary & Street Photography
Hersley-Ven Casero is a multidisciplinary visual artist and street & documentary photographer born and based in Dumaguete City, Philippines. His passion for photography began in college, where he was sponsored equipment and mentored by LA Times photographer Luis Sinco. Upon graduating, Hersley conducted – along with his mentor, and Magnum photographer Eli Reed – a series of South Pacific Photography Workshops, and over the years has developed a reputation in his home city as a prolific and dynamic photographer, with his photographs featured in local, national and international publications. His long-term passion project is his ‘Catch a Moment’ street photography series, in which he catches split-second snapshots of elements aligning in humorous and uncanny ways in everyday life.
Feature
In collaboration with Danielle Spontak
& The Pictorial List Online Magazine
Click to read full story.
Click to read full interview.
‘A Quarantine Photo is Worth A Thousand Feelings’
In collaboration with Danielle Spontak
& Civitas Quarterly Magazine
Before self-isolation became the new norm, Hersley had just completed a large project on personifying tiny rocks to large canvas visuals. His focus had been on people without faces, which he has brought into his latest endeavor. While it still highlights people, Hersley’s current art is steeped in silhouette and shadow – something without a title. Ironically, it began with his own name. A friend had given him coffee in a little glass container labeled Café Casero as a friendly joke. Now you would think one goes about making savory coffee when getting a gift like this but not Hersley. Instead, he dipped his paintbrush in and put coffee-rich outlines of people on canvas to show how we feel about our friends: warm. They add precious flavor to our lives. He plans to acquire more canvas and enlarge his rough study when his frame of mind to paint returns. For now, his framing is that of faces, sunsets, and the streets, and they have his undivided attention.
People have been touched far and wide by Hersley’s growing collection of photos depicting Dumaguete City. He pointed out how much the environment resembles a movie set without its actors, giving an eerie quality to the once cheerful, sunny atmosphere. A pleasant surprise that has emerged from all of this is the global response through technology to Hersley’s captured responses of everyday people in quarantine. One of his photos gained recognition on Instagram and ushered in waves of popularity via online photography and art communities. A magazine in Cebu has already agreed to feature one of his photos this summer! And a musician’s group that composes instrumental indie music with ambient quality will use one of Hersley’s photos as their cover. No amount of quarantine is going to stop connections and friendships from forging. Hersley described one of his expeditions, stating, “I went to downtown when it was dark. There were no pedicabs! I had to walk several kilometers to get home but I actually enjoyed it. No air pollution, no people, only dogs – I was able to enjoy the walk. And I was surprised I could make friends in an instant. I met locals, foreigners, and tourists. I met many people.” Despite social distancing restrictions, the artist has managed to both reach people through photos and reach out to people on the roads.
Hersley’s photos speak for themselves, uttering sentiments only our souls speak. This artist knows exactly how to look at life with the right angle and capture it.
Danielle Spontak
spontakentertainment.com
July, 2020
Hersley-Ven Casero’s role as residential artist at FU took on new meaning this year: documenter. Little did anyone suspect the drastic turn of events 2020 would usher in this past spring due to a virus. COVID-19 turned the world upside down as it unleashed havoc upon humanity, and the Philippines rose to the crisis with strict preemptive measures. Islands were locked down. People were forced to wear masks. Both international and domestic flights were canceled, leaving thousands stuck in place. And then the final change: Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ). It was a change so extreme it left people bewildered, frustrated, and anxious as to how its restrictions would unfold. Households were limited to one person allowed out for supplies. Dumaguete had never seen its streets so quiet, nor its street animals so confused at the absence of people. Hersley rose to the occasion – he wanted to chronicle this crisis for history to come.
“Right now, I’m a documenter. I’m a recorder of moments. I’m interested in documenting the effect of visual images through photography on my city. I volunteered,” Hersley stated. He hopes his personal collection will one day transition into becoming the city’s archives of this noteworthy event, similar to how reporters photographed the saturnine atmosphere of the Great Depression in 1929. He is interested in people’s responses to self-isolation. What struck him the most when he began his mission was the persistent and heavily prevalent anxiety in everyone. Whenever Hersley aimed his camera, people’s already uncomfortable attitude caused them to immediately jump to conclusions of law enforcement, that Hersley was a member of the task force, that their security was in jeopardy. To ease the tension and capture more authentic photos, Hersley switched to a camera with a flap, redirecting its lens so it lay on his hip. Out of sight, out of mind. The artist became a fly on the wall recording scenes left and right. “I’m an invisible ninja no one notices,” Hersley said with a chuckle. He understood where everyone was coming from because he too was experiencing the same emotional turmoil. “I felt high anxiety and sensitivity. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t concentrate. I couldn’t even paint. I’m so thankful to have another avenue to express my art. It’s kept me sane. I feel joy in producing photography. Anxiety is a battle of emotions and dealing with the current situation,” Hersley said, emphatic about quarantine’s toxic effects upon his mental state. He expressed how crucial it is for him to be in the right frame of mind to create art because for Hersley, authenticity is his destination and the journey there is one he deeply appreciates.
More images as seen on Instagram:
