John Messina is a LSU schooled architect and a self-taught photographer and writer who, over the past 50 years, has practiced architecture and photography. From 1975 to 1977 he studied the history, theory and criticism of photography with Wayne Andersen at MIT where he earned a Masters of Architecture degree. He has taught photography at MIT, Boston University and Wellesley College, as well architecture at the University of Arizona. For his photography he has been the recipient of grants from the International Fund for Photography and the Massachusetts Council for the Arts. The New Orleans Museum of Art holds a sizable number of his photographs in its permanent collection. His architectural projects have been honored by awards from the Southern Arizona Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. A book on the Mexican colonial town of Alamos, Sonora was published by the University of Arizona Press in 2008. Currently he is working on book projects. RESURRECTING the DEAD, an instructive, as well as satirical account of the restoration of a New Orleans French Quarter townhouse in 1999 is in draft form. Two other books QUETZAL and ZOPILOTE, concerning a journey to Mexico and Guatemala in 1970 in a single-engine airplane, and DAMASCUS GATE: Memories of Palestine 1973 have been self-published and may be viewed digitally free of charge (see Home Page). The most recent publication is CUENTOS del NORTE, a magazine (see Home Page). John lives in Tucson with his wife, Tania.
Selected published work also can be found on the following web sites:
A visual essay on Southwest Architecture:
http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/adobe/
A review of my book Alamos, Sonora: Architecture and Urbanism in the Dry Tropics - University of Arizona Press, 2008, can be located at:
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/lag/summary/v008/8.2.herzog.html