These are my friends. Since we are all Mexicans we support each other, even though we don’t know each other well. We know we are in the same boat, we have the same goals. This one I know has her children in the US and she’s trying to cross because of them. We are women and we are mothers and we are Mexican, and that unites us. I was really happy to be able to take a picture for them and to see their smile, after all these terrible things that we’ve been going through.
Now that I have my documents I will go back home more often. Once my kids are out on vacation, I plan to go with one or two of them. I want to be back in that peaceful place. I imagine I am there, kneeling down washing my clothes in the river, although there is no water in this picture, but I was imagining it because that’s how it used to be.
In Tijuana, where I grew up, my parents would never let us paint graffiti, but there were many mural paintings. I thought only the people of Tijuana expressed themselves in murals. But I see them a lot near Casa Latina. Murals are an expression of youth asking for something. They want to demonstrate and show themselves.
I felt like taking this photo that evening that I was eating for the first time at a buffet in the casino. In Mexico, when would you ever eat these luxury foods? Well, every once in a while you have to treat yourself.
Me dieron ganas de tomar esta foto esa noche que estaba comiendo por primera vez en un buffet en el casino. En México quién iba a creer que iba a comer estas comidas de lujo? De vez en cuando hay que darse un gusto.
This picture is like an artistic painting. It’s like something that’s moved and it is really beautiful because you see it’s like a color that is spread out, painted. It’s like a landscape. A very abstract painting.
Esta foto es como una pintura artística. Es como algo que está movido y es muy hermosa porque la ves y es como un color que está derramado, esparcido. Es como una pintura muy abstracta de un paisaje.
I like the way the light color covers it all as a sheet. This is how pretty nature is. We come from a country where it is very hot. In Tijuana, there is no snow. When my sister came, there was a snow fall. They had never seen snow. Never! It was nice to see their reaction. Here, I learned to appreciate the snow more because people from other places enjoy it a lot. I can show you how all those dark, grey and black cars were covered in white.
I wanted to smell the sand and the beach. I wanted to connect to that smell of the water, so I took my shoes and socks off because I wanted to put my feet on the sand and connect with the sand. I used to do this in my village. I felt that I was receiving all the energy of the sand. For a moment, I felt like I was free. It’s as if I was going back to the past, to how I was before I came to the US. When I take my shoes off and walk on the sand, I feel freedom.
This landscape brings me memories of the peaceful place I used to live in. You desire to be there in that tranquility, no noise from anything, only the roosters, the dogs barking, the chickens cackling, the sheep, the cows, the burros... We would go wash to the river, and we’d look for a rock like that to wash. I imagine that I am there, kneeling down washing clothes in the river, although there is no water here in the picture, but I was imagining it.
An afro-descendant population without territory is nothing; the territory is where they develop their lives, where they do their songs, where they are happy. It is the place where they can sing and scream and make love and make noise in any way they want.
