EXHIBITION ESSAY

Camilo Cruz: The Double

Camilo Cruz’s photography thrives on tension, operating in two worlds and staging a visual dialogue rooted in duality. Whether through diptych formats or multiple altered images, the interplay of shadow and light, or the tension between master and servant, Cruz examines layered identities with a precision that is both intimate and confrontational. This duality intersects as he works as an employee in the U.S. criminal justice system.

That position shapes his work, which uses photography to expose the emotional, spiritual, and psychological weight of bureaucratic institutions. His work has an undeniable sociopolitical undercurrent, reminiscent of Jamel Shabazz’s documentary sensibility. Cruz, however, captures a more symbolic lens—his references to incarceration, including nods to Rikers Island, are not merely about confinement but about dual perceptions: how we see ourselves and how we are seen by the state, society, or even a camera.

Cruz often creates images as diptychs, which are two pieces that work together. This setup encourages viewers to think about what they see and how the meaning shifts when considering two perspectives. For example, two figures standing next to each other might convey feelings of vulnerability and power, presence and absence, or self and other. We are the same. The dark corners of these images enhance the message by hinting at hidden stories and the unseen effort involved in shaping identity.

His work echoes the staged curiosities of ASCO’s Chicano avant-garde theatrics and Laura Aguilar’s dual portraits of Clothed/Unclothed before and after—or after or before—the role reversal of presenting. Cruz constructs images that are never neutral; his frames are charged spaces, meticulously composed yet vacant. Within this framework, the body becomes a site of transformation, echoing performance traditions while remaining deeply rooted in photographic truth.

“… I relied upon a number of semiological systems, each one being a social/cultural construct: the sign language of clothes, of facial expressions, of bodily gestures, of social manner, etc. Such semiological systems do indeed exist and are continually being used in the making and reading of images. Nevertheless, the sum total of these systems cannot exhaust, does not begin to cover, all that can be read in appearances.” 1

Camilo Cruz uses the camera as a tool for dual vision. His photographs do not resolve the split between worlds; instead, they occupy the space between them, encouraging viewers to engage with complexity. Through shadows, staging, and composition via Photoshop, Cruz invites us to recognize that identity is never singular, but always fragmented, shifting, and perceived in parts.
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Christopher Anthony Velasco

1. John Berger and Jean Mohr. Another Way of Telling. New York: Pantheon Books, 1982,
p. 112.