Personal Photography

Millions of families hide their personal stories and struggles because they fear for those who they love, they fear of loosing their American dream. Coming from a family that migrated to the United States, I have come to be much familiarized with how these families have to battle the social norms that are bestowed upon them. Moreover, I feel that many of these stereotypes have been generalized to all of those who are Hispanic, so personally I have had to struggle against such stereotypes.  So taking after the concept of Carrie may Wheems,I sought to personalize these stories to reconstruct the story of all those families who cannot speak up for themselves and of all of those Hispanic families who are also being affected by racial profiling.

            In this project I wanted to show the diverse pressures that these families have to face. Primarily, many families are classified as being criminals or drug traffickers, when these families only seek a better future and come from humble origins. When they finally achieve the American dream, they soon realize that they are not in the “melting pot” that President Carter once mentioned, but rather in a place where they are being pointed out. As their life progresses, they begin to build their own families and unfortunately their children have to share many of their same burdens. They too have to battle negative stereotypes that are placed on them. Stereotypes that assume that these children will not graduate from high school, that they will not become educated, and that they will end up as criminals incarcerated in jail. Moreover, they also have to live under constant fear of loosing their parents at any moment, and living under these emotions changes their childhood because they are faced with emotions that other children would never imagine of. However, I have been a witness of how the children of immigrants are beginning to stand up and becoming the voice for their families. They are slowly loosing fear, but more importantly they are battling all those stereotypes. More of these children are graduating high school and continuing on to higher education. And it was for this precise reason that I decided to personalize this project, because while I have not been through all the struggles these children have been through, I have struggled against all the stereotypes and all those people who thought I would not pursue higher education. Therefore all of those students, including myself, who are struggling against these stereotypes, become “The other.” However, while this terminology was used to describe those who were ethnically different from the American society in the past, we have become “the other” because we are going against all the social norms and prejudices that have been placed on us. We are graduating high school, we are continuing higher education and becoming professionals, but more importantly we are breaking free from these stereotypes and making it clear that immigrant families have much to contribute to this country.

Documentary Photographs

Across the border from Yuma Arizona, we find hundreds and hundreds of people called "skydivers"

who have settled on mexican property without permission and have made it their home. These illegal settlers explain how it is that they do not have the resources to process permits and tired of not having a home for their children, they began constructing their homes out of anything they could find. Many of these people have been settled in this scorching desert for more than 3 years withough electricity or  running water. Not only do they face the hardships of weather for themselves and their children, but they also live in constant fear, knowing that any moment they could be thrown out of their homes. Without doubt, the conditions that they are living under really impacted and touched my heart, however there was something that drew my attention even more. In that community where cribs and beds are out in the sun, where houses are made of cardboard, where they have no bathrooms, I could see children playing, families gathered to talk and I could hear laughter, a laughter that still echos in my head. This community strives to protect their homes and to preserve their strength, joy and faith. They face the future with a smile and with the  hope that one day they can provide a better future for generations to come.