Crystalline Darkness

I was born hearing, I was able to listen to the world for the first 3 days of my life. Due to an incorrect blood transfusion my hearing ability was decreased by a high percentage. I was born and raised in Mexico, a country that communicates with noise - the doorbell, the bell from the garbage truck letting you know it arrived, a shout from the tank truck driver notifying they will deliver gas to your home, same situation with purified water delivery or the man who carries a basket with pastries and sweet bread. The sirens for ambulances and patrols, an earthquake alert; hearing impaired people do many things just like the rest of the population: driving, for example, even if I cannot hear the horns or the whistle of a policeman. I live in a country with more than 8 million disabled people. I learned to observe. I quickly learned to turn sounds into images through my eyes and the camera itself. The lack of hearing enhanced my other abilities. Over the years I have learned to see beyond that image, to do it through expression, breathing, a gesture, a word; I am captivated by the human behavior. People with disabilities in Mexico are one of the most vulnerable sectors of the population and the landscape does not seem promising. The figures indicate that more than half of them live in poverty, lack basic health services and job opportunities. Understanding the visual disability from my own disability has allowed me to approach each of the beings portrayed here, to understand the difficulty they live. I share with them the feeling of constant rejection and discrimination. I can understand the indignation due to an attitude of pity. That is why with Crystalline Darkness I seek to break stereotypes, change the way we see, think and interact with people with visual disabilities. I seek to portray their reality, their daily lives, deconstruct socio-cultural stereotypes, make them visible in a country where by definition we are invisible.