By Louise Liebenberg

(Condensed version of an article published in Camera & Image magazine, South Africa, September 2002)

"Conceptual documentary" might sound like a contradiction but for photographer Salvelio Meyer, it's about using a powerful new medium to state a greater truth. Salvelio's haunting black and white images transcend not only time and place, but blur the divide between the physical and spiritual.

Born in Zambia to a Spanish mother and South African father, Salvelio specialised in documentary work for several years - "often, there were times I wanted to say more than a single image would allow me to say". However, with the advent of digital photography and the new software tools on the market he found a new medium in which to express himself.

Salvelio makes use of existing images he has captured over the years, to create completely new images that deliver a more powerful message: "By bringing together separate elements I can tell a complex story; even recreate crucial moments I have experienced and recorded in my mind, but was unable to capture on film at the time," he says. "It's about adding my own reality to realities that exist around me, or have existed in my subconscious for a long time."

Salvelio studied fine arts at the University of Salamanca in Spain and also has a photography degree from the Port Elizabeth Technikon, where he has lectured in the past.

"When I was a student none of us had any idea of the digital revolution that would one day occur in photography. But even in those days I was experimenting with the notion of conceptual work by cutting out pictures I had taken in order to create collages, which I would then rephotograph."

This had little to do with conceptual documentary work, however that shift only began in earnest when Salvelio encountered the work of Mexican photographer Pedro Meyer several years later. "Pedro is considered a leader in the field of digital photography. His approach opened new doors to the way I thought, signalling a break-away from the traditional idea of documentary as a purist form of photography."

Based in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Salvelio regularly visits Spain to gather material, and elements of Spanish life and belief structures feature prominently in his work.

"Spain is a modern country but one which holds on to strong medieval beliefs. I love this contrast between past and future; for instance spotting a hooded Nazarene walking through the streets of Salamanca surrounded by tall buildings, cars and satellite antennae," he says.

"I am fascinated by this culture but don't like to show it by means of cliched images of bullfighters or flamenco dancers. My work is far more personal, for instance reflecting stories of the Spanish Civil War as told to me by my late mother."

When people first encounter digital imaging, Salvelio says, some easily to fall into the trap of using the new tools in a gimmicky way. He warns one must also start off with good quality images in the first place and not be tempted to use software to "jazz up" inferior work.

"The idea of digital manipulation is still met with resistance by some traditionalists, but I am guided by a strong sense of ethics and am not trying to mislead or fool anybody. My images show the way I see life. I am not political or religious in the least and have no such motives in my work. But these factors play an important role in the way society functions, and my work might show this impact."

Salvelio makes the point that conventional photographers also "manipulate their work to an extent, for instance by using different filters and lenses, waiting for a lighting situation to change or by burning in certain areas once in the darkroom". He insists traditional documentary photography will always be around "I still do a lot of traditional documentary work myself but that hasn't stopped me from exploring another medium".

"For me the importance lies not in 'how' the image was created, but in what it says. I love sharing my work and want people to read the image like a story; to be stimulated and perhaps even find their own meaning in it. There are millions of images out there that people barely glance at, or just pass by.

"I want them to stop, and think."