Mexican-born photographer Martha Naranjo Sandoval has released a deeply personal photobook titled "Small Death" that explores the transformative experience of immigration and its profound effects on personal identity. The New York-based artist documented her journey from Mexico to the United States through intimate photographs of herself and her closest relationships, creating a visual narrative of displacement and adaptation.
The book's provocative title carries multiple layers of meaning, as Sandoval explains: "I wanted a title that was not static and pointed at different things – petite mort, muerte chiquita. But to me it also alludes to other kinds of small death. Like when you emigrate and leave some of who you were behind." This concept of losing parts of oneself during major life transitions forms the emotional core of the work.
In 2014, Sandoval made the life-changing decision to relocate from Mexico to New York City. Recognizing the momentous nature of this transition, she felt compelled to document the experience before the details faded. "My life was about to change. I wanted to document my new life in a whole different country, being truly on my own for the first time," she recalls. Her inspiration came partly from her father, who had taken up photography after Martha's birth, using the medium to capture his own major life change.
Practical considerations also influenced her decision to focus on photography during this period. Sandoval had struggled with the limitations of analog photography in Mexico, where "getting film was hard, developing was hard, scanning was hard, printing was hard." She suspected the technical aspects would be more accessible in New York, so she packed her analog camera when making the move.
The resulting photobook, published by Mack, reads like an intimate diary of Sandoval's daily life rather than a collection of milestone moments. The images capture the minutiae of everyday existence – tender moments with her partner, their cat, and visits with her parents. The passage of time is subtly marked through changing seasons, reflected in clothing, sky colors, and the varying lushness of greenery.
Sandoval demonstrates a remarkable ability to find beauty in mundane situations. One particularly striking self-portrait shows her standing before a fire hydrant spraying water, with a small rainbow emerging from the oily road surface. The image serves as a metaphor for life's unexpected beauty and captures those everyday miracles that sometimes seem too perfect to be real.
Regarding her creative process, Sandoval maintains a balance between intentionality and spontaneity. "I never plan a picture but I often have images already percolating in my imagination," she explains. She emphasizes the importance of allowing viewers to understand her internal creative process rather than simply presenting finished results. Drawing inspiration from renowned photographer Graciela Iturbide's philosophy about the two crucial moments in photography – pressing the shutter and finding the picture in contact sheets – Sandoval adds a third element: the decision of how to present the images.
This philosophy is evident in the book's design, which incorporates scans of contact sheets alongside finished photographs. This approach gives the work an authentically unpolished quality, making readers feel as though they're experiencing every test shot and moment rather than viewing a highly curated selection. The inclusion of these work-in-progress elements creates a sense of intimacy and transparency.
The book's physical design reinforces its personal nature. Bound in deep red, the cover features a single photograph of Martha from behind, taken from a test sheet. The title and author's name appear only on the spine, creating an understated presentation. Upon opening the cover, readers are immediately immersed in Sandoval's visual world, with no text appearing until the final page where she discusses the book's influences and creation process.
Sandoval deliberately chose to minimize written explanations throughout the book. "I believe you can tell stories just through sequencing and juxtaposition," she states. "As much as there is a story that I was thinking of when making this book, when you do not anchor meaning with text you are not making statements, but encouraging questions." Instead of traditional chapters, she uses white pages featuring small self-portraits to break up the narrative flow.
After more than a decade in New York, Sandoval has become deeply embedded in the city's photography community. She teaches, manages a photobook library, works at a photobook shop, and operates her own publishing house. The release of "Small Death" represents another significant milestone – the transformation of something deeply personal into a public work that exists independently of its creator.
Reflecting on this transition, Sandoval expresses both excitement and apprehension: "I like when this happens to my images because I am excited to see where they go on their own. It's both exhilarating and overwhelming to ponder that the book is going to be on so many different bookshelves, in conversation with so many other people and books." The photobook is now available for purchase through Mack Books, allowing Sandoval's intimate exploration of immigration and identity to reach audiences far beyond her personal experience.
