CCA News
Alumnus Spotlight: Sergio de la Torre
Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2008, by Jim Norrena
Sergio de la Torre was taking photography classes at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, California, when his instructor, artist Liz Sisco, gave him sound advice: “She told me that with the kind of work I was doing I had to move away from San Diego,” he remembers, “and she said my work would fit well with what Jeanne Finley was doing at CCAC.” (Finley is a CCA media arts professor and artist/filmmaker who works with photography, video, and media installation.)
In 1993 Sergio moved to Oakland to attend CCA where strong faculty once again played a pivotal role in his academic and artistic development. Such artist-teachers as Jeanne Finley, Larry Sultan, and Barney Haynes “were all very influential in my career,” says Sergio. “And I still keep in touch with them today, now as a colleague instead of a student.”
While at CCA Sergio also participated in a performance group, called Los Tricksters. Following graduation he shifted from photography to focus on performance art. At first working primarily in the Bay Area, he quickly branched out nationally, eventually creating photographic, performance, and installation works have been featured at the international level: Bienal Barro de América at the Museo de Bellas Artes (Caracas, Venezuela); Cleveland Performance Art Festival; Centro Nacional para las Artes (Mexico City); and the de Young Museum and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco).
In 1997 Sergio began teaching middle school through Southern Exposure, a San Francisco–based arts education organization. “I hated it,” he recalls. “I hated teenagers. I couldn’t communicate with them.” Despite his initial experience he realized he did enjoy teaching so in 1999 he taught public-art classes, as well as photography classes at CCA, San Francisco Art Institute, and UC Berkeley. Today he’s a full-time assistant professor at the University of San Francisco.
In 2006 Sergio produced and directed Maquilapolis, a documentary that depicts the globalization of Mexico from the perspective of females who worked in the maquiladoras (the multinational-owned factories that take advantage of less costly Mexican labor). The film’s subjects were involved in all stages of production, resulting in a truly collaborative filmmaking process.
The film’s U.S. premiere took place at the Tribeca Film Festival, and it went on nonstop to other film festivals, colleges, and events throughout the world, including PBS’s P.O.V., public television’s premiere showcase for independent nonfiction film.
“After two and a half years were still having screenings almost every week,” says Sergio. “I’m going to Buenos Aires in three weeks for a film festival, and distribution is going really well.”
Other projects for Sergio: a commission by SF Camera Works to do a project for its thirtieth anniversary; and the Tijuana Cultural Center also has commissioned him to create a video installation over the coming year.
Sergio finds it difficult to pinpoint just one project for which he’s proudest. “They all go together,” he says. “Teaching, working on projects—for me they’re very similar. It’s hard to say if I’m a teacher or an artist. I think I’m both.”
Suddenly Sergio remembers his best creation: “I am most proud of my two kids.”
Born in 1967 in National City, CA
CCA degree:
BFA 1996, Photography
Other education:
MFA 2006, UC San Diego
Residence:
Berkeley, CA
Current occupation:
Professor, University of San Francisco; photographer; performance/installation artist; producer/director
Influences at CCA:
John Muse, Jeanne Finley, Larry Sultan, Lydia Matthews, Barney Haynes
Website:
www.maquilapolis.com