Photographer, printmaker, and researcher recognized for his work on Mexican-American visual studies and his expertise in 19th-century historical photographic techniques.
Recorridos is Brauchli’s ongoing photographic project exploring the Rio Grande, tracing its course from the headwaters above Silverton, Colorado, to the mouth of the river between Texas and Playa Bagdad, Matamoros. Employing historical photographic techniques such as copperplate photogravure, cyanotype, and platinotypes, Brauchli critiques some of the contradictions of modernity, highlighting the ecological devastation and cultural complexities tied to industrialization and the concept of progress while capturing both the beauty and the stark realities of natural and social landscapes.
Byron’s Encrucijadas series challenges traditional depictions of serene, unspoiled landscapes by documenting the environmental devastation in Southern Mexico caused by human activity. Using the delicate and labor-intensive photogravure process, Brauchli blends beauty and destruction, creating images that compel viewers to confront the ethical and aesthetic implications of ecological exploitation. As art critic Leticia Mora Perdomo has commented on Brauchli’s work: (These)… images of the Veracruz landscape capture the loveliness of its deep diversity. Beaches, birds, mountains, and the famous Orizaba peak are part of a rich iconography that has shaped the vistas of what we recognize as the panorama of Veracruz. Byron Brauchli’s project, Crossroads, reveals a different perspective: a landscape devastated by man.
In Cruces del Camino, Brauchli documents roadside shrines. encompassing human stories and struggles tied to issues of migration, religion, and the human sojourn through life.
