Balam (magazine)

Balam is an annual magazine based in Buenos Aires, Argentina that is mainly focused on Latin American contemporary photography, with special emphasis on queer artists and the particularities of their regional context. Originally established as an online magazine in 2015, it became a print publication from its fifth publication in early 2018 onwards. Balam has had nine issues, five of which were released in print form. Although presented as a magazine, Balam's concept is closer to that of a photobook or an art object: each issue starts with a unique theme, selected contributors and specific printing features for that particular issue. The most recent edition of the magazine, focusing on the theme of "New Masculinities", was launched in 2023.

Closer in style to publications from outside the continent, the magazine has been considered the only one of its kind in Argentina and, in general terms, Latin America as a whole. Each issue of Balam is built through an open call for photographers from all over the world to submit their work. It has showcased both emerging photographers as well as well-established names. In 2022, Balam received the Shannon Michael Cane Award given to emerging artists and publishers by the NY Art Book Fair. In 2023, the magazine produced the photobook Playfulness in collaboration with the American independent publisher Pomegranate Press, and its eighth issue was exhibited at the Latin American Art Museum of Buenos Aires (MALBA). The same year, Balam won the "Photography Content of the Year, Print or Online" prize at the Lucie Awards.

Concept
Balam is a photography magazine that is published in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was conceived in 2015 by Luis Juárez, a university student from Honduras who had emigrated to Buenos Aires in 2009, but was then living in Santiago, Chile. The creation of the project was a response to the art and photography scene of South America, characterized by limited cultural funding, "stuffy institutionalism", and the prevalence of "hetero-cis white content". Interviewed in 2021, Juárez stated that the magazine "arose in response to how photography is being fractured, unable to represent and make visible dissident and marginalised communities. (...) [I wanted to explore] realities that are outside the norm." The term "balam"—meaning "jaguar" in the languages of the Maya peoples—is a reference to the long iconographic tradition of the animal in Mesoamerica, as well as a homage to Juárez' Honduran origin, who felt the name "refers to passion".

Although presented as a magazine, the conceptual intent of Balam is closer to that of a photobook or an art object: each issue is created from scratch, with a unique theme, selected contributors and specific printing features designed for that particular issue. Since the release of its first printed issue, Balam has been presented and distributed in art galleries and independent bookstores in cities such as Buenos Aires, Santiago, London, New York City, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, and Melbourne, among others. In order for Balam to have its own space for dissemination outside of bookstores or museums, the magazine's team also created the Feria Migra in 2018, an art book fair devoted to independent publications and printed art that is mainly held in Buenos Aires and has been carried out several times a year since then. In addition to the magazine, Balam also organizes workshops, talks and screening cycles, in addition to creating specific content for its online platform.

Balam has been considered the only project of its kind in Argentina and, broadly speaking, in Latin America as a whole, so it mainly takes publications from outside the continent as reference points. It is focused on the contemporary photography of Latin America, with special emphasis on queer realities and the peculiarities of their regional context. Balam also explores a variety of social issues that are specially prominent in the region, including racism, violence, immigration and marginalisation, among others. The magazine presents itself with the aim of "promoting new ways of showing photography from a Latin American point of view". Writing for AnOther magazine in 2021, Dominique Sisley noted that Balam "works on two levels. On the first, it spotlights the more serious issues faced by Latin America's LGBTQ+ community, highlighting its injustices and forgotten history. At the same time, it opens up the conversation, celebrating the more mundane, everyday experiences to encourage relatability and accessibility."

2015–2020
Each release of Balam is built around a theme from which an open call for photographers is put out. The direction and content of each installment are built around these submissions. In its first four issues, Balam was published as an online magazine. The titles and unifying themes of each of these releases are: "Me encantaría sentir algo" (English: "I would love to feel something"; April 2015), "Piel" (English: "Skin"; August 2015), "Género" (English: "Gender"; December 2015) and "Extranjerismos" (English: "Foreignness"; December 2016). Between 2016 and 2017, Balam sought to consolidate itself as a project that existed outside of digital content, and began to seek funds to take the step towards print publication. This culminated in the awarding of the Mecenazgo program (i.e. patronage) of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, which allowed the magazine to be printed from its fifth publication in early 2018 onwards.

The first printed issue of the magazine (and the fifth overall) was published in 2018 and is centered on the theme of "Metamorfosis" (English: "Metamorphosis"). The choice of topic was inspired by the 1915 novella of the same name by Franz Kafka. The sixth issue of Balam was published two years later and revolves around the theme of "Mestizx", a "Latin term for mixed-racial heritage." The magazine explained the idea behind this theme: "We see individuals as mixed beings, mestizx in blood, skin, inspiration and gender. We would like to ask in what ways you see our generation as mestizx. This issue seeks to empower the concept of mestizx and all those working with it." According to Matt Alagiah of It's Nice That, the issue "challenges perceptions of established beauty and aims to spark conversations about patriarchal white heteronormativity." Among the works included, the "Mestizx" issue features photographs from Sunil Gupta's 1976 series "Christopher Street".

The seventh issue of Balam was published in 2021 and is organized under the topic of "Fantasía" (English: "Fantasy"). According to Juárez, the idea of "Fantasía" was born during the production of "Mestizx", as it "aroused a curiosity to know where fantasies arose from, what it is like to create 'forbidden' things, make our own worlds far from what is established and regulated." AnOther's Dominique Sisley described it as "loose theme that refers vaguely to any 'images, stories, events' that do not 'exist' in a patriarchal society. There are stories on dreams, eroticism, trans rights, and subversive beauty ideals." The issue is subdivided into five sections: "La isla" (English: "The Island"), "Jardines" (English: "Gardens"), "Bellxs" (English: "Beauties"), "Cócteles" (English: "Cocktails"), "Morfeo" (English: "Morpheus") and "Cárites" and (English: "Charities"). It includes photographs from Alejandro Kuropatwa's famous 1996 series Cóctel, which criticized the antiretroviral pills of the HIV/AIDS crisis.

2021–present
The open call for Balam's eight issue began on June 1, 2022, and lasted until July 1, 2022. Published that year, the issue is organized under the theme of (English: "Chosen Families") and features Brazilian travesti artist Ventura Profana as guest editor. Interviewed by It's Nice That, Juarez stated about the collaboration with the artist: "Who better to travel these worlds than a travesti missionary pastor; a mediator between humanity and divinity; a prophet of dissident lives, of their multiplication and abundance?" The open call for the edition explained that the theme of "Chosen Families" intended to "put out and show through the image stories of families established by choice, to show an evolution in cultural understanding and social norms that cross them and evidence the obsolescence of dominant, determinant and coercive mandates such as marriage and parenthood, generally alien to the problems and desires of queer identities." That year, Balam received the Shannon Michael Cane Award given to emerging artists and publishers by the NY Art Book Fair.

In 2023, Balam published a book in collaboration with the independent publishing house Pomegranate Press, based in Richmond, Virginia, US. Entitled Playfulness, the photobook was presented by the projects as a "dual attempt to capture, in some way, what it might mean to have fun, explore and be curious about the world around us." Printed in Argentina, it has a first edition of 500 copies, 116 pages, and a Swiss binding with embossed text on the back cover. In the book's introduction, Pomegranate Press stated: "Luis and I met in New York City. I had been aware of his work with his beautiful magazine (Balam) for quite some time, but before meeting face to face, I had no idea who was behind the project. (...) After I returned home to Richmond and he to Buenos Aires, we unsurprisingly remained in contact. (...) After a few short months of communication, I made the conversation about work and suggested the idea of collaborating together on an ambitious project (hint: this book). (...) I am just grateful to be part of his vision, however briefly."

Also in 2023, the eighth edition of Balam was shown in the exhibition ''Del cielo a casa. Conexiones e intermitencias en la cultura material argentina'' (English: "From Heaven to Home. Connections and Intermittences in Argentinean Material Culture"), held from March 23 to July 30 of that year at the Latin American Art Museum of Buenos Aires (MALBA). The exhibition—which broke attendance records for the museum— brought together works of art, design pieces and domestic objects chosen for their affective value in the Argentine imaginary, organized in "thirteen groups presented as constellations of thought and intuition". Balam magazine was displayed as part of the group entitled "Home", and is reproduced in the exhibition book with a photograph by Cecilia Gil. That same year, Balam participated in the LA Art Book Fair (LAABF) held at the Geffen Contemporary space of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

The open call for the ninth issue of Balam ran from January 17 to March 1, 2023. Released the same year, the issue focuses on the theme of "New Masculinities" and features Dominican artist Oscar 1992 as guest editor. It includes photographs by artists from Mexico, Brazil, Australia and the United States, among others, as well as texts by Cole Rizki, Diego Tedeschi, Dulcina Abreu, Facundo Blanco and Igor Furtado. In the official presentation, Balam called for "projects that subvert the rules of the normative white male, discuss the power relations that nurture notions of 'masculinity' and, above all, redefine the path and acceptance of faggots, queers, trans identities, crossdressers, racialized subjects and the infinite ways of being within the LGBTIQ+ community." The issue is presented as a "school of scoundrels", and quotes Pedro Lemebel's famous text Manifesto (I speak for my difference) (1986): "Won't there be a faggot on some street corner unbalancing the future of his new man?". In a dialogue with Soy magazine, Juárez talked about the dialogue between images and texts in the edition: For example, in this issue we begin with a series of photographs about "the new man," about transmasculinities, and we close with a text by Cole Rizki that reflects on the visibility of these masculinities. Cole is a trans intellectual from the University of Virginia. He looked at our photographs and, from the first person, reflected on them. I think it is very important that the readers have access to the intimacy of the writer, that the reflections are made from that intimacy. When you read Balam, you read it as much from the photos as from the texts.

After the publication of the ninth issue of Balam, Soy described the magazine as an "object to treasure" and noted: "The vastness and beauty of the content is a center of gravitation that attracts and retains. All of them are a necessary stop on the magazine's journey, and we will want to return to more than one of them". The ninth issue of Balam was also given the "Photography Content of the Year, Print or Online" prize at the 2023 Lucie Awards.

Printed publications
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• First edition of 500 copies. Printed in Argentina.

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