Carlos Garate

Garate was born in 1995 in Mexico City. He later pursued photography after being inspired by his father, who was a photographer. Discovering old slides of his father’s work alongside a camera sparked his own interest in the medium. He went on to study at the Hallmark Institute of Photography in Massachusetts, and remained there for three years before returning to San Diego, where he continued working professionally in photography.

When he found that he couldn’t afford the art he was most inspired by, he turned to painting as a way to create it himself. Painting felt like an extension of the editing process he loved in photography, a space for experimentation, adjustment, and expression.

Garate shares in his own words: “I feel my roots in photography show through my work, no matter how painterly I want to make it. Through photography, there is immense control over composition, and painting is a way for me to express around that accuracy. Growing up in Mexico City, the colors of homes and advertisements were extremely saturated, often contrasted by many neutral grays, making them shine. I’m hoping to explore what it would be like if our memories prioritized color, or what it might feel like to take a camera into a dream.”