Elsa Leydier uses photography and found materials to unpack and re-think popular narratives of exoticism in South America.

"My work begins where the postcard breaks," writes Leydier, who has been making a range of challenging photographic series for the past 7 years. Her approaches include deconstructing visual representations of South America's regions in found imagery, manipulating press images, creating cyanotypes, and culture-jamming postcards and Olympic commemorative postage stamps. With these varying treatments, Leydier aims not to represent the terrain or people, nor to immerse the viewer in lush natural wonders, but to reveal the problems and false narratives in its constructed fantasy. 

I contacted the artist via email to learn more. 

Jon Feinstein in conversation with Elsa Leydier