Sarah Minter

Sarah Minter (born 1953 in Puebla, Mexico, died 2016) was a Mexican filmmaker and artist.

Minter produced 8mm and 16mm films, video installations, and documentaries that displayed intersections of the body, politics, and the city.

Her first contact with video was when she filmed Super 8.

Her artworks display the evolution of video and express themes of intimacy, marginalization, and different perceptions.

She studied cinematography at the National Autonomous University of Mexico film school in Mexico City.

Minter's career began in the 1970s when she joined the experimental group Ergónico.

While she was a part of this group, she was able to have her first contact with video and developed a strong liking for it.

The medium was affordable and unrestricted in terms of structure, which is something that she enjoyed.

Minter used this to her advantage, creating works that express her own ideas and thoughts despite the male dominance of the genre and the rejection that the genre received.

In the late 1990s, Minter worked as a teacher, curator, and promoter of video.

She was one of the founders of the video workshop at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda" in Mexico City and worked as a professor there.

She also taught video at Casa del Lago and at the Universidad Iberoamericana.

In 2002, she spoke about the lack of recognition that Mexican video received.

She died in 2016.

This is a video installation that shows conversations between people at a dinner table.

Minter asked the participants to talk about love and intimacy and the issues that may arise from it from a personal perspective.

The idea is to show how love is expressed in a specific community.

The participants were people who were close to Minter, and most of them were involved in arts and humanities.

There was no restrictions in terms of gender or race.

When displayed, viewers are only able to hear the conversations if they are close to the installation, further allowing for a more intimate experience.

This film shows tells a story of a group of young people living in a punk experience.

It shows how these people expressed their punk lifestyles, intending to shine light on the marginalized state that they live in.

The film crushes stereotypes that are inflicted upon those who identify as punk and shows viewers the lives of these people from a personal perspective.

Minter came in contact with the individuals 20 years later and a made a film (Nadie es inocente- 20 años después) that shows the lives of these individuals and the careers they were able to pursue, further showing that punk individuals are capable of pursuing more than society says.

This film is a narrative about a girl named Alma who lives in Mexico City.

She comes into contact with punk, Mexican rock, and the ideals of living abroad.

It displays the ideas of punk, rebellion, economic instability, and weak political regime.

It also displays the perspective of a teenager trying to express herself.

This piece is made up of 18 video installations that show scenes of intimacy between other people and including herself.

It expresses bodily sensations and urban observations.

This work allowed Minter to express herself and show herself in different perspectives.

Every scene shows who she is and what she sees, although she is not physically present in all of them.