Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, El Sereno. Shot on film.
When I was in the second grade, my family and I moved from Koreatown to an area in Northeast LA called El Sereno. El Sereno is a community rich with Latin culture & community but it is also unfortunately plagued with gang culture & violence. In order to have more opportunities at better funded schools, I continued to attend school in the west side.
Growing up with the vast differences between both communities greatly influenced my perspective on life and my artistic choices. I love to capture beauty in unexpected places & explore the juxtaposition of opposing view points/upbringings to show that you can find beauty and pain anywhere.
My parents came to the United States from Orizaba, Veracruz to give my siblings and I a better future. My mom started working at 11 years old to help her parents support her big family, she worked at a church as a housekeeper and a cook. She continues to work as a housekeeper today. I started helping my mom clean homes since middle school and once I reached college, I took on cleaning jobs independently in my spare time. Cleaning homes has taught me hard work, attention to detail and how to always be a helping hand. Cleaning homes of wealthy and successful people at a young age also allowed me to see the stability and success I wanted for myself and my family in the future.
My dad comes from a long line of tailors. He took on the family trade at 14 years old. After becoming sober from alcoholism, he was determined to turn his life around and give his kids a chance at a better life. My siblings and I always saw how hard our parents worked to make ends meet. They’ve always instilled in us the importance of hard work ethic, family values and supporting one another. Being raised as the only US citizen in a family of immigrants, I was aware at a young age that I had more opportunities than my siblings. This pushed me to focus on school and always work towards my dreams. I hope to provide for my parents the same way they have done for me and my siblings.
Photograph of my niece Mia, shot on film by me.
Beauty
Family strolls around El Mercadito in East Los Angeles.
Ascott Hills in El Sereno.
Pain
El Sereno, East Los Angeles.
A memorial site for a young teen who passed away tragically in El Sereno.
Growing up, I always wanted to travel around the world and experience different cultures. Raised in an immigrant household, my family never really traveled outside of Los Angeles. In the summer of 2020, I got to go on my first roadtrip to Lake Tahoe, Arizona and Utah. The next year, I got to travel for the first time by airplane with the documentary team of “A Decent Home” for the 44th Denver Film Festival in Colorado! Below are images from the trips I've taken, I look forward to continuing to add to this gallery.
