Recuerdos de mi gente

Statement:

Recuerdos de mi gente, Memories of my people, A collection of photographs taken in places of mi gente, my people. Extraordinary Latino spaces throughout Chicago that I have experienced through adolescence, revisiting these pockets of life to document their dying existence in time. A flea market called La Gara, located near Cicero and Division, Carniceria's Jimenez, My version of Jewel-Osco's, and even the streets of Paseo Boricua on Division St. through Humboldt Park.  

To extend these secluded and often hidden places of my culture to the masses, I use a variety of color-emphasizing techniques, such as higher saturation of colors and vibrancy. Use of lighting to illuminate these often-darker areas of rich culture to display their equally rich pigmented bodies. Referring to these places as my memories and like those of similar backgrounds, as kids we view the world through a saturated lens of color, purity, extravagance, and excitement. The emphasis on color recalls the child's perspective of myself and how these corners of my life felt like a movie and imaginative fairyland to me.  

As I document these spaces, I share with the world a point of view from an admirer, often places of Latino and Hispanic backgrounds are not given the appearance of something that is colorful, welcoming, and pleasing. I highlight these physical locations in a pleasing and inviting manner. Directly combating all the lower-quality photos found online in reference to these areas. The lack of representation contributes to their hiddenness within a wider audience. As I document to the world, places never seen by those unfamiliar with the environment, I am inventing a place for exploration, wonder, and curiosity, like the way these places served me as a child. 

The extreme contrast and dramatic clarity within these photographs highlight all the content within each frame. Whether it is a small toy in the distance or the texture of paint on doors, I can grasp the audience's attention with the photos. Contributing to such intent is the sizing of these photographs. Purposely sizing the images to larger or smaller scales allows for those smaller to be concentrated on longer as the detail is something only a closer look can show, these larger images help blows up each individual item that draws attention from its scale and texture. Creating smaller images allows for the perception that these places are still small in scale to the world, but they still exist and are just as colorful. In contrast, my larger images are an invitation into these worlds, as you can dive straight through them. 

It is essential that I document the places that my people reside in. Whether it is a flea market, the streets, or a grocery store, all these places do not have the affordance of knowing they will be here in a year, month, or even tomorrow. My People, Mi Gente, are always at risk of gentrification, discrimination, and financial issues. For once I can achieve Recuerdos, memories of these places in a light viewed through my innocence as a child. In Spanish, recuerdos are often simultaneously referred to as souvenirs. In the same way, as Memories of my people serve, so do the souvenirs of my people, as these documentary photos bear the weight that one day, these places will no longer exist. And all that I would have are these photos as souvenirs of these places, of my memories, of my people.