Reminiscencias de Ciudad Juárez
︎︎︎Winner BJP 1854 “Female in Focus”
︎︎︎Winner LIFEFRAME COLORS 2022. Competition judged
by Damarice Amao, Curator at Centre Pompidou in Paris.
︎︎︎Featured at THE GUARDIAN®
︎︎︎Featured at TIME magazine®
︎︎︎Winner TIME® / ASMP Photo Contest.
Prize Won: 2nd Place - Open Category
Statement :
Cuando comenzó la guerra contra el cártel en Ciudad Juárez (ciudad fronteriza con EEUU) allá por 2006, muchos de nosotros nos refugiamos en nuestros espacios privados (en nuestras casas y en nuestras habitaciones). Ante la toma de los espacios públicos por parte del terrorismo y la violencia, hicimos de nuestros hogares un refugio seguro, un santuario donde pasábamos la mayor parte del tiempo dado que estábamos sometidos a un encierro involuntario implícito. Esta serie representa la dualidad y el contraste. Los interiores están totalmente decorados en tonos pastel en representación de nuestra estética fronteriza. La violencia, los espacios públicos y la guerra contra las drogas se muestran en la televisión y el periódico colocados en la habitación, lo que representa el papel activo de los medios de comunicación en las estrategias del terrorismo que afectaron a todos en México.
La serie es un autorretrato autobiográfico que habla de un momento de mi vida: el aislamiento provocado por la guerra contra los cárteles de la droga. Dentro de ese aislamiento me pregunté ¿Por qué vivo aquí en la frontera? ¿Por qué vivo en una de las ciudades más peligrosas del mundo? Y la respuesta llegó echando un vistazo a mis antepasados y a mi vida en la frontera. Hoy lo retrato, lo recuerdo y lo trabajo para verlo con una mirada crítica pero al mismo tiempo para darle otro sentido a ese episodio traumático.
︎︎︎Exhibition at San Ildefonso Museum, Mexico City.
︎︎︎Project Winner of Jovenes Creadores from FONCA®
︎︎︎Exhibited at PhotoFusion Gallery London, England.
︎︎︎Exhibited at Museo del INBAL , Ciudad Juárez.
When the war against the cartel began in Ciudad Juarez (a border city with USA) back in 2006, many of us took refuge in our private spaces (in our homes and in our bedrooms). In view of the public spaces being taken over by terrorism and violence, we made our homes a safe haven, a sanctuary where we spent most of our time given that we were subjected to an implicit involuntary confinement. This series represents duality and contrast. The interiors are fully decorated in pastels in representation of our border aesthetic. The violence, public spaces, and the war on drugs are displayed on the television and newspaper placed in the room, this depicting the active role of the media on the strategies of terrorism that affected everyone that lives in this city.
The series is an auto-biographical self-portrait that speaks of a moment in my life: the isolation caused by the war against the drug cartels. Within that isolation I asked myself Why I lived here on the border? Why i live in one of the most dangerous cities in the world? And the answer came by taking a look at my ancestors and my life around the border. Today I portray it, I remember it and I work on it to see it with a critical look but at the same time to give another meaning to that traumatic episode.
“It’s the saturated, candy colors that first confront you when viewing this highly-stylized image – accentuating the picture-perfect teenage bedroom with an aesthetic drawing on American high school cinema. But then you spot the television – ignored by Persia’s subject but broadcasting a police incident on the streets of Ciudad Juarez, an episode from the war on drugs she describes in her statement. It’s a powerful dichotomy between the safe internal haven and harsh exterior world, and asks us to question the pervasive influence of American culture, the harsh reality of life for many, and the need for escapism, particularly as a young person. Behind the superficial idealism of this brilliantly executed image there’s a cleverly constructed comment on the modern world.” – LIFE FRAMER (Competition Judged by Damarice Amao, Curator at Centre Pompidou in Paris
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