La Cena

These portraits are not your classical Americana, not your Norman Rockwell-esque images, but the collaboration and self-identification of modern Mexica and Latines families attempting to live the American dream. Latines is plural and truly gender nonbias;it is a counter image to the pre-scribed brown labels; it is considering and including the poly-dynamic meaning of family, tradition and cultural preservation. One box does not fit all and the label LatinX amended to our culture is an attempt at confining our ethnicity to a neatly packaged term. The Latines gaze is Mestizaje (of mixed cultural and ethnic heritage) taking back the burden of representation. It is the freedom to define and refine our narrative of diversidad within the layers of Mestizaje seen here in the canon of fine-art photography. This collaboration with families carries on the conversation of diversity, introducing a new way of seeing the mosaic of a modern America through the lens of Mexica, Latines. With this series, I celebrate our depth and breadth of our Mexica and Latines heritage and culture.