La Voz de Galicia – August 10, 2018 →
Xan was making one of his street photographs. When he sets out, Xan stands still in the corner of the city and photographs those who walk before the camera. Later, he creates a narrative with the life of a city, a type of social portrait of a moment in a wall somewhere in the world.
He had been there less than 15 minutes when London police stopped him to ask what he was doing. Xan simply told them about his project and ended up having a beautiful conversation with one of them who, after Xan showed him his work, asked him, “Can you really live off of this?”
Xan Padrón is 49 years old, and after 25 years in education, he decided to abandon it all to focus on photography. Today, he works with international galleries and in art fairs such as the one organized by Saatchi Art. He decided to risk it all for his passion, and with that risk, he began a new period in his life where uncertainty and instability feed the feeling of doing what he truly wants.
If there is something I admire about life in New York, is the ease that people have to switch their jobs and their environment in the middle of their professional life. To begin almost from zero to 50 must be difficult, but not seeking happiness at 50 must be even tougher.
Most of the time, it is survival that forces us to make decisions when we find ourselves in a crucible. But once we are settled, once we find comfort, then the feeling of control over the direction one wishes to take disappears as well. Being able to make choices is a right, and we do not always allow ourselves to change direction to choose another path and begin again…
