Mid December

So December has arrived and so the holidays and vacations for many people.  This is my first time in a long time that I am going to enjoy a ¨real¨ Fall and Winter holiday, the weather is what it is most different. Living in Miami for almost two decades you tend to forget about how beautiful everything turns in Fall. Spain turns so beautiful, the trees leaves turn yellow and so other tonalities! and Madrid is filled with people all around the city center, the holiday spirit is right here.

Going back to the my project, this month has been a little weak, in term of getting in touch with people for the photo sessions, as I mentioned before, everyone is on the holiday spirit and family and sharing. So that being said not much time to get together with me. My appointments had been postponed until first week of January which I think is just great. I need some time to add some ideas to what I think is a better approach to my project.

A few weeks ago I had a meeting with the Master´s director. I showed him what I had. He challenged me to challenge myself, he was sure I can come up with a more unique approach that will make my work stand up among others.... and that´s what I want!!!! I needed somebody else to tell me what I already know, sometimes we just need to hear that from someone out of your circle. It is great to have people who love your work but it is even better to have people who love your work but challenge you to make something greater!
He put an example or better said he told me that I am an excellent cook, I know my recipes and how to present a entree that everyone is going to love, however, knowing that my recipe is unfailing  he wants me to come up with a new one, one that people would be amazed by it and that's my challenge, to create something new, attractive in a way but that keeps the essence of my work and my vision.

Let´s see how that works, I have some images that are approaching how I am looking at things now....and with another idea I have I feel this is the one that is going.

Mid November

This is an update for mid November. I realized I haven't mentioned this but I started my masters program at the beginning of November. This is something I had planned and mentioned on my Fulbright proposal. I am attending Universidad Europea de Madrid and taking Master PhotoEspaña: Teorias y Proyectos Artisticos. This is a master program who is directed to people who want to take their skills to a higher level by learning in depth the theories of photography as well as how to take an idea and develop it to the fullest and take it to a project, proposal, exhibition and beyond. I felt this is something in undergrad we don't explore in depth, we do but no to the extent we do on a masters program and I needed that kind of experience.
I am very happy with how everything is going there, I feel this program is really going to help me really think about my interests, the choices I make and elevate the quality of my work.
The other day I went to an exhibition, Martin Chambi and Castro Prieto, two photographers who have photographed Peru in different eras...the first one around 1920' s and 30's and the other one 60 years later. the same subject in different approaches, it was so beautiful, so enigmatic, rich and honest. Chambi was the first photographer in Peru who documented the indigenous people from the Andes, specially from Cuzco and at the same time he documented the high class of this enigmatic city. Castro Prieto always wanted to go to Peru and he had the opportunity to go to print Chambi's negatives for an exhibition and he fell in love with his work but mostly with Cuzco. So he documented this city with his unique style and the juxtaposition of both views is just incredible. I like to see as much as I can, this exhibition was very inspiring.
So far the project is going well. After classes started and been exposed to so much material to read and the quality of professors we get for lectures made me want to go back and see what I've been doing. I started to schedule re shoots with some of the subjects I've had photographed.. I felt there was something missing. Sometimes I feel I know my formula and that formula doesn't fail...but right now I want to break from it because I need to challenge myself everyday in everything I do.
Tutoring kids from 12 to 16 years old didn't work that much, it is a difficult age, I just remember myself at that age and it was hard, so many changes... so I am going to tutor people around mid 20's and 30's and this is the age range I am more interested in investigate. I am going to teach them English. I feel they can get motivated by my experience of learning this language.

It is Thanksgiving too, well in The United States still Thanksgiving, we are six hours ahead but I still think about it and I feel so thankful for everything, thankful for opportunities I have everyday to make something better. Thankful for having a supporting family who is so happy for me, I can't ask for anything else.

November

November just started. Another month, the third one for me in Madrid.
The project is going like I am intended to however I feel I haven't met people who has more interesting stories to tell and the question comes about what is interesting for me. The Non governmental organization I am working with has helped me so much but I haven't found an order. What do I mean by an order? well I wanted to focus on 3 immigrants collectives (Peruvians, Colombians and Ecuadorians) and I haven't interviewed as many as I wanted to. For this reason I started volunteering at a Ecuadorian ONG so I could be more in contact with them.
It is a little challenging but I try to be patient, this is the only way I could get what I need. So far I have interviewed ten people from Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Paraguay, Mexico, Ecuador and Dominican Republic.
A friend asked me the other way something interesting that made me really think about my project, the reasons why I am doing this.This pushed me to really analyze the purpose of what I am doing here. If I intended to have an exhibition of this project which I do, I want to do something here before taking this to the U.S. so I said that my project wants to portray a different aspect of the immigrant in Europe, well in Madrid. I feel the word immigrant has a negative connotation in this country and I would like to show the viewer that an immigrant shouldn't be seem as someone who is threatening, instead should be seen as someone who is making a difference. People migrate for different reasons, the most common is the economic one. However people migrate all the time, based on needs and goals they set for themselves. Humans have a tendency to move around from one place to another according to their needs and wants.

Spain as the United States are places seemed as a destination place for many, whether is great opportunities or just the desire to migrate where other people had migrated too.

I have been reading about this subject because i want to understand my subject more in depth and also because it answers questions that not even the person who I am interviewing is aware of.

So far this is a great project, I am getting so excited every time I meet someone who wants to share their story.

More in depth

As I venture more into this subject, so many ideas and ways to approach my research come to my mind. How "would I do it a lot more interesting?"  I asked to myself the other day. Now I feel the subject itself is very interesting and worth to research as much as possible. 

I've been getting valuable information from the Secretaria de Trabajo e Inmigracion. Which have a tremendous amount of mostly updated information about certain collectives (eg. Ecuadorians, Peruvians, Colombians, etc)

As I talked to a person who is very knowledgeable in this subject matter, she made me realize that I should focus on a specific group, I chose Peruvians, Colombians and Ecuadorians.As far as now, I've been interviewing Colombians and Peruvians, however the biggest Immigrant collective are the ones from Ecuador. This is the one I feel more interested to explore. Based on the economic situation they were going through back in Ecuador, one can deduced the reason they migrated. 

The other day I met a lady from Ecuador, she was very nice and easy to talk to. She has seven kids, all of them here in Spain. They all work, but mostly is her husband and herself who bring the income to support the nine of them, She sells clothing on street fairs. She says before the business was really good but now the crisis has hurt them somehow. However, they go to other countries to sell and make the best out of the situation they are going through at this moment.

I asked her if she was happy, she took a long pause and said yes, because she has the means to give stability to her family, something back in Ecuador was not possible. She wishes to go back, she wants to earn and save more money and then go back.

Mostly all immigrants come with that in mind. The reasons they came to Spain is because there was a great demand of workforce and a good pay. Everyone was sold y that and migrated to make a better living for themselves and their families back home.

At some point either immigrants become part of the Spanish culture by learning its customs, culture, history, etc or they just go back to start again in the countries where they were born.

The other day, I went to an exhibition called Post it, and it was about ways people occupy public space for an unspecific period of time. This was absolutely interesting and another way I could approach my research. They way immigrants start to make a place their own, and this would be more visible in neighborhoods with a high concentration of Latin Americans.

I highly recommend this exhibition, it is located on Palacio de Cibeles on the 4th floor.

The project is starting to grow and I feel happy but at the same time I feel I need to challenge myself a lot more so I can achieve even better results.

Inmigration in US & inmigration in Spain

My project deals with the impact (economic, cultural and other things that would come along the way) immigration from Latin America has brought to Spain, particularly in Madrid. As in any part of the world, the capitals of each country are the chosen ones for people to migrate to. In the case of Spain, Madrid and Barcelona are the cities who experience the most of this phenomenon called immigration.  A few days ago I went to an exhibition about this topic. It was very interesting and educational, both for people who are just staying in this country for a short time and to the ones that were born and live here. It is important to emphasize the reasons people migrate which is most but not all the time an economic cause.

Been in Madrid for almost three weeks and I was able to walk around a lot of areas and watch. I've been around a few neighborhoods and was able to appreciate the diversity this city is evolving into. I was quite well admired and astonished to see the diversity in this city. Some civilians do not see with good eyes the way Spain is evolving to, a melting pot of cultures and the diversity it brings with it.

This is one of the reason I am doing this project. The main reason I was given a grant to do this project is to find a way of understanding of this phenomenon and bring a bigger picture and hopefully open some minds about this subject matter.

Being an immigrant is difficult and challenging. I migrated to the United States at the age of 13. Not knowing what we will encounter along the way, I knew deep in my heart my mother made the right decision. We were always educated (my four siblings and I) to be responsible civilians and to respect others and ourselves too. After 18 years living abroad I can say I am happy and feel I've accomplished a lot of goals I've set for myself. One of them was to go to school, get a degree and pursuit and make the most out of it.

Back in the US, when I think about the term "immigrant", it does not have any negative connotation since the United States is a country who was created and founded by immigrants. We are all immigrants and there is nothing wrong with it. This could be the big picture since we know in some states there is hate, however when we really stand together we are more than those ones.

I feel Spain has a long way to go on the way they approach and understand this phenomenon. The awareness of people about this topic is very important, and most important is once they acquire knowledge they know how to use it and how to react to it. At this early point of my investigation I feel there is no knowledge and therefore there is ignorance and ignorance becomes indifference.

I am here to explore, investigate, get to know lots of people from different walk of life, from different backgrounds. They all have something to say and I want to be there to listen and document it.

This is a video that touched me and I want to share it here. We are all special.

Perdonamos pero no olvidamos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkFJE8ZdeG8&feature=player_embedded">

Contact

So today was a very productive day. Between the process of finding apartment and going all around Madrid, I needed a chance to dedicate sometime to the main reason why I am here in Spain. I had this meeting planned from a week ago and I was anxious to go and meet the person I've been in contact for almost a year.

So I met Barbara from Asociacion Era, this is an Non-governmental organization, who aids the immigrant to adjust to a new environment, help them in the process of finding a job and even English classes, not only for immigrants but to Native Spanish as well. She is in charge of many other things as well.


So I met her and we started to talk about many things, to me the most important was about the people who come to her in search of help and how this association works around that. The main focus of my project is get to know people from Latin American origin and to talk to them about the circumstances for which they took the decision to migrate and if it was worth it. The act of migrating can be broken down in many aspects. The reasons, the ways they migrate, the adjustment, the challenges one faces in the new country; I would like to know those aspects from them. Photography would come after this, first I need to know the subjects.


I was very excited to meet Barbara because she is very excited about this project too. This excitements from both parts is very crucial to make this project go on the right direction. I feel we will make a good team and we are speaking the same language. 


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Hoy dia ha sido un dia muy productive, entre buscar piso y andar por todo Madrid, necesitaba darle un tiempo a la razon por la cual estoy aqui. he tenido esta reunion planeada hace ya mas o menos una semana y estaba anciosa por conocer a la persona que he estado contactando por casi un ano y que sin su ayuda la beca no se me hubiera dado.


Conoci a Barbara de la Asociacion Era, que es una organizacion sin fines de lucro que ayuda al inmigrante a su adaptacion en esta ciudad. Le ayudan en la busqueda de empleo y/o preparlos para tal. Tambien no solo ayudan al inmigrante sino tambien a la gente autoctona, ya que imparten clases de ingles de varios niveles. Ella esta a cargo de varias otras cosas muy interesantes.


Y bueno, empezamos a conversar sobre muchas cosas, y para mi lo mas importante de conversar fue sobre que personas venian a pedir ayuda, y como la organizacion tiene que lidear con eso, mas que todo en asuntos legales, etc.
El punto focal de mi projecto es conocer gente que viene de Latinoamerica y hablar con ellos sobre las circumstacias que los llevaron a emigrar y si ha valido la pena hacerlo. El acto de emigrar puede ser visto desde varios aspectos: Las razones que tuvieron, la manera de venir, las vicicitudes que uno puede encontrar en un nuevo pais. Me gustaria saber esos aspectos de su vida de ellos. La fotografia vendra despues, primero es importante saber de ellos lo mas posible.


Estuve muy contenta de conocer a Barbara, mas que todo porque ella tambien esta muy contenta con este proyecto y eso es algo muy esencial para que esto vaya por el buen camino. Vamos a ser un buen equipo.

ELLA

Desde el momento que vi su obra me atrapo. Nose como, donde, cuando...pero su vision y talento fue algo que no he visto en tanto tiempo.

Esta es una de las fotos mas conocidas de ella si no me equivoco:


La exhibicion de Cristina Garcia Rodero en el Circulo de Bellas Artes es simplemente maravilloso!!! Transtempo es el titulo de la exhibicion. No puedo describir la emocion que senti cuando vi sus fotografias alli frente mio. De simplemente verlas en el internet y verlas alli mismo fue increible.
El tamano en que fueron impresas tambien le da un cierto tipo de suma importancia y mas todavia a los sujeto de su obra. Esta fotografa ha pasado decadas documentando festividades religiosas y paganas por toda Espana pero mas que todo en Galicia. Muy pocos fotografos pueden asumir tal resposabilidad. Pero ella queria y estaba comprometida con esto y eso es lo que hace que uno siga.Quien sabe por cuanto esta mujer habra tenido que pasar para lograr lo que estamos viendo, pero siento que bien vivido, las experiencias que uno puede vivir y sentir en busca de estas imagenes es a mi parecer incomparable y de mucho valor.

Esta la tome en la exhibicion/this one I took on the exhibit:



Since the moment I saw her work I was sold. Don't know how, where and when... but her vision and talent was something I haven't seen in so long.

Cristina Garcia Rodero's exhibit at the Circulo de Bellas Artes is just amazing!!! Transtempo is the title of this exhibit.
I just can't describe the emotion I felt when I saw her photographs right there in front of me. From just seeing them on the internet to see it live...was amazing..
The size of the photographs (including the frame was around 44 x 32 inches) gave the importance it deserved and above all it gave her subjects the place they deserved.
She spent decades documenting pagan feasts as well as catholic celebrations all across Spain but mainly in Galicia. Very few photographers assume and take on such responsibility; she was determined with it and I feel this is what makes you continue. Who knows what she went through to accomplish what we are looking at now, whatever it was I think she feels in complete ( maybe not). The experiences one can gain in the search for moments like this is not comparable to anything.

Llegada

(((I will write this post both in Spanish and English since I have friends who only speak one of the two languages and I want everyone to understand me)))


Y pasaron Los Dias y ya estoy aqui. La orientation de la Fulbright fue muy interesante, conoci gente que ha venido con muchas pilas y deseosos de empezar sus proyectos y/o clases.

Days passed by and I am here now. Fulbright's orientation was very interesting, I got to meet people who has a lot to give and excited to start on their projects and/ or classes.

Fueron 3 Dias que pasaron de tranquilos y algo relajados a intensos y llenos de información.
It was 3 days that went from very nice and relaxing to intense and full of information.

Había Gente de todo lados de EEUU y de diferentes backgrounds y esto es lo que hace mas interesante esta orientación, y la meta de la fundación también, de tener gente en diferentes ámbitos y que tengan una diversidad de intereses.

There was people from all part of the United States and from different professional backgrounds and this is what makes this orientation more interesting as well it reaches the foundation's objective, having people who all together are rich in diversity and who have different interests.

En lo personal, yo recién he caído en cuenta que estoy aquí y que voy a hacer algo que me apasiona que es la fotografía. Una oportunidad así me hace sentirme mas segura de que estoy llendo por un buen camino y que lo que hago es valorado por otras personas y que les interesa mi punto de vista hacia ciertas realidades y mi percepción de ellas.

From my personal standpoint, I just sort of accept that I am here and I am going to do something that I feel passionate about which is photography. An opportunity like this makes me feel that I am going the right way, what I do means something to others and they are interested in my point of view about certain topics and my perception about them.

Ya llevo 6 días en Madrid y me parece increíble, es una ciudad tan diversa y que tiene tanto que ofrecer y se que lo aprovechare al máximo.

I've been in Madrid for 6 days and it feels incredible, it is such a diverse city and it has so much to offer and I will fully take advantage of it.

10

En 10 dias empiezo una nueva aventura, en un nuevo entorno, un nuevo pais...el tercer pais en que voy a vivir. De America a Europa es un gran cambio, pero de los buenos cambios.

El proyecto que voy a desarrollar es muy importante para mi trabajo, mi evolucion como fotografa y una gran responsabilidad.

En el proximo blog describire un poco mas lo del proyecto. Por ahora solo pasan los dias y esperando ya estar alla e instalarme y empezar buscar las imagenes y las personas que necesito para lo que tengo en mente.

Nuevas Rutas

Empeze este blog como soporte a un pequeno proyecto que hice en la universidad hace un tiempo y el cual fue muy bien recibido. Ahora ya despues de un tiempo vuelvo a retomar este espacio como tabla para compartir un nuevo rumbo. Me gradue con un BFA (Bachelors in Fine Arts, Bachiller en Bellas Artes) concentracion en Fotografia. Antes de que me gradue me decidi a aplicar a una beca, la Fulbright. Con la ayuda de personas buenas y honestas me embarque en esto que es la aventura de explicar lo que quieres hacer con tu arte y proponer una idea llevarla a proyecto y hacerla realidad. Con mucho nerviosismo envie mi aplicacion, mis suenos y mi todo. La espera fue interminable pero el final dio a mi favor, me voy a Espana, a seguir mis suenos y a buscar imagenes que digan lo que quiero comunicar. El proyecto es sobre la Inmigracion Latinoamericana a Espana, un tema bastante complejo pero que me interesa mucho, ya que yo soy inmigrante en Estados Unidos. Naci en el Peru y emigre a una temprana edad. Procesos de adaptacion, idioma, costumbres, etc son las que quiero investigar mediante la fotografia.
Este blog lo quiero usar como un diario de el dia a dia que sera este proyecto.