Xavier Nuez explores abandoned urban alleys late at night to capture photos, finding beauty in neglected spaces. As a child, his father's stories of homelessness terrified him, and he now sees the alleys as representing both fear and optimism. To get the perfect shot, Nuez returns to alleys multiple times with vintage film cameras, portable lights, and long exposures to realize the vivid colors in the darkness. While the alleys can be putrid, Nuez finds eerie splendor in distilling their beauty through his photographs.

1. THE MIDNIGHT
bring a bottle of booze, and we’d explore together. Invariably, I’d
create converts. My friends grew to love our strange adventures.
“Then there’s the darker side to my relationship with these
PLAYGROUND OF spaces. My dad was a homeless kid for a couple of years. It was not
something he spoke of often, but he had tales of sleeping under
stairwells, and of rummaging for discarded food, left behind at
farmer’s markets. These tales terrified me as a kid, and I wondered
XAVIER NUEZ if that could happen to me.
“Many years later, in my early 20s, I started to experience
serious bouts of depression and sudden waves of social anxiety. I
returned to this fear that I might end up homeless and living in
an alley. I started looking at these spaces with a strange brew of
BY LOUISE BUYO
fear and optimism. I convinced
myself that even if that was my
fate, I could live with that.”
That realization opened a
floodgate of creativity for Nuez.
Over the years, he has vis-
ited numerous cities, including
Detroit, Chicago, New
Orleans, Miami, Los Angeles,
Kansas City and Minneapolis.
Distilling the beauty of these
alleys is no easy task. A typical
night requires a great deal of
patience and savvy to be pro-
ductive. Shots are not easy to
find. To get the perfect compo-
COPYRIGHT © 2006 XAVIER NUEZ. USED BY PERMISSION OF THE ARTIST.
sition, Nuez will return to cer-
tain spots several times.
Nuez shoots his photo-
graphs with 50-year-old
Hasselblad film cameras and
120 mm film. To help capture
the vivid colors, he brings
portable lighting equipment
and colored gels. The darkness
demands long exposures to
realize images, and leaving the
shutter open produces surpris-
ing hues. It is not unusual to
take more than an hour to cap-
ture a photograph.
Alley No. 91, Mutant (2006, St. Louis, MO, 11:45pm), by Xavier Nuez. Photograph. For all the eerie splendor
of Nuez’s final images, the
A NIGHT OWL with a predilection for roaming darkened alley- spaces that interest him most are often putrid and neglected. The
ways and ruins in blighted urban areas, photographer Xavier Nuez neighborhoods are dangerous, but Nuez tries to mitigate this by
(http://www.nuez.com) has built a daring body of work prowling bringing a guide or lookout. Regardless, Nuez will encounter a
the streets after hours. Having acquired his street smarts at a city’s other nocturnal denizens: drug addicts, the homeless, gang
young age, Nuez started his Alleys and Ruins series nearly two members, clubgoers, graffiti artists and rats. He has had run-ins
decades ago. with the police and many close calls where he has had to run and
“I realized there were two things I loved shooting: urban hide from the locals.
decay and night scenes,” Nuez recalls. “Together, they were just “I think this strange blend is evident in the series. The
pure magic. I noticed I was able to communicate ideas very pow- images are a celebration of life, but they are photographs of fearful
erfully this way, and I made the conscious decision to begin a places. They are beautiful and repulsive; they inspire joy and
series based on this theme. dread; they are both calm and on edge; scenes of extreme con-
“Alleys and ruins seem to have always been part of my life. trast, with bright colors and dark shadows.
As a teen and young adult, I would explore them, day and night, “The areas I like to shoot in are not places that attract your
with and without a camera, because they were so fascinating and ordinary citizen. Places to rejoice and yet mourn, where life and
intense — so different from the day-to-day, ordered structures and death stand side by side. Yet I feel at home in them, while con-
activities. I was rebellious. On weekends, alleys and ruins in stantly being on my guard.” PA
Montreal [where I grew up] were often places to hang out with
friends, who were sometimes understandably reluctant. I would Louise Buyo is the Managing Editor of Professional Artist.
26 PROFESSIONAL ARTIST MAY 2011

2. COPYRIGHT © 2006 XAVIER NUEZ. USED BY PERMISSION OF THE ARTIST.
Alley No. 107, Railroad Bridge (2006, St. Louis, MO, 11:45pm), by Xavier Nuez. Photograph.
www.professionalartistmag.com 27