RED DOOR 24

INTERVIEW and translation from Spanish by Elizabeth Torres.
All graphics provided by Jaime Serra Palou.
THE ART OF
INFOGRAPHICS
AN INTERVIEW WITH
JAIME SERRA
PALOU
Jaime, throughout
years you’ve developed
an extensive
career which unfolds
between the
frontiers of Journalism
and Fine Arts,
through the use of
data as prime matter
and infographics
as your main media
for creation. Tell us
what led you to develop
your activities
in this field, which
benefits and factors
most interested you,
and what is it that
most impassions you
about creating infographics:
I use infographics
because it’s what I
found along the way,
many years ago. At
a certain point at the
end of the 80s, I arrived
to the beginning
of what would
become journalistic
infographics.
Throughout a decade
I felt true passion
for journalism
and the possibility of
participating in the
construction of parameters
for a new
form of narration,
which at the time
was in its dawn: infographics.
However,
my trye interest was
always centered in artistic
practices, (let’s
call it that, although
it can also be called
poetics), which I
tried to add to this
sudden interest: the
construction of journalistic
infographics.
I achieved this, with
certain luck, through
the years when I directed
the infographics
department of the
argentine newspaper
El Clarín. Once
this path was exhausted,
my interest
in poetics continued
to grow and found
itself in conflict with
my journalistic practices,
so I found no
other option than to
let it overflow (it’s important
to note that
journalism here was
speedily fading).
I believe that
what we do with
our life is more
important than
what we do in life.
(seeing it this way
means taking all
the responsibility
possible – which I
don’t know if it’s
much anyway – of
our own destiny).
I could have looked
for other ways to enter
in-depth into the
poetic practices, but
life had offered me
infographics and I
thought it economically
unviable not to
take advantage of it.
It is true, a priori, it
would seem the least
appropriate tool for
building a personal
world, of subjectivities,
but it also meant
a challenge, something
which I always
find stimulating.
ISSUE #24 - VISUALIZE - FALL 2020 9