by Lorie Lewis Ham
The Rogue Festival is quickly approaching and the first sign of its impending arrival is always the announcement of the Festival Muse. This year the muse was revealed on January 30 at Goldstein’s Mortuary and Delicatessen. The Muse for the 2018 Rogue Festival is “St. Fabel with Baby” by Fresno photographer Victor Trejo.
We chatted with Jaguar Bennett, the publicity director for Rogue Festival 2018, about the Muse, and then we took a moment to chat with Victor Trejo about his photography and his muse.
KRL: Can you briefly explain what a Rogue Muse is?
Jaguar: The Rogue Muse is the unifying image for the Rogue Festival — it’s the image that appears on the cover of the Rogue program and on posters, flyers, and T-shirts. Each year’s Rogue Festival is represented by a different Muse by a different artist. The Muse is meant to symbolize the source of artistic inspiration and to represent each artist’s particular vision. 
KRL: Please tell us more about how the Muse is chosen.
Jaguar: The purpose of the Rogue Muse is to recognize an outstanding Fresno artist and honor his or her achievements. The Muse Artist is selected first, before any of the artist’s specific works are considered for the Muse, and then the Executive Director of the Rogue Festival works with the artist to select which of the artist’s pieces will be the best representation of the Rogue Festival.
The Muse Artist and the Muse are chosen solely by the Executive Director of the Rogue Festival. Our current Executive Director, Heather Parish, likes to remark that selecting the Muse is the one purely artistic decision the Executive Director gets to make.
Our goal with the Muse is not to select a commercial logo or to please everybody. We want the Muse to be an exceptional work of art that represents one artist’s unique vision, creativity, and point of view.
Interview With Victor Trejo:
KRL: Where are you from?
Victor: While I’m originally from Mexico, I grew up here in Fresno and have spent most of my life here.
KRL: How long have you been an artist?
Victor: I suppose I’ve been an artist for almost twenty years, though not always continuously, and not always in the same discipline.
Victor Trejo
KRL: What types of art do you do?
Victor: I started as a poet, and though I still occasionally write, I consider myself more of a photographer now.
KRL: How did you go about deciding which image you wanted to use for the Rogue Muse?
Victor: The idea was to find an image that would exemplify what we thought a muse would look like, but beyond that I had a great deal of leeway in selecting images. As a collaborative work, I selected six or seven images and then we narrowed it down to one.
KRL: How does it feel to have had your work chosen?
Victor: It’s very exciting to have my work displayed in such a public venue. As a photographer, it’s not unusual for people to respond to the model in the image, but the outpouring of recognition has really been amazing.
KRL: Where else can people find your work?
Victor: I shot a number of Rogue shows last year, which should still be available to view online.
KRL: Do you have a website for your art? And/or Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram?
Victor: Besides the Rogue website, most of my photography can be seen on my Facebook profile, which is updated every so often with the shots I take around town.
KRL: Anything you would like to add?
Victor: Only that I’m looking forward to all of the new shows this year, both as an audience member and as a photographer, and the opportunity to do more shooting!
Watch KRL for more Rogue Festival articles over the next few weeks, and Rogue Reviews & video interviews once Rogue begins. For more information on the Festival itself check out their website and keep an eye on KRL’s Rogue Festival Event Page.
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