Private Story
The Blog
A little more than a year an a half ago, the first portrait that I did was of a man who had crossed the border with Mexico and got help from a senior gay couple who hired him to be their caretaker for the last years of their lives. The next one was a lady who came from and was victim of domestic violence and raised from those ashes to become a social activist and supporter for other domestic abuse victims. After that I went to a lady's house who's principal way of income came from the improvised bakery on the efficency of her house. Then, I traveled to New Jersey and New York to photograph Dreamers (Deffered Action for Childhood Arrivals) who spearheaded proffesional protests in order to gain in-state tuition rates in New Jersey's public colleges and universities for students just like themselves. Also, once in New York, Day laborers who where developing a Smartphone App to prevent wage thefts from their employers. Another one of the portraits was a lady that came forward to the authorities about a Police officer who would stop her on her way home or even stop by her house to collect a weekly toll from her and her husband's hard work as extorsion and threating to get them deported.
I can sit down with you and tell you 32 different stories like these, stories of struggle, success, abuse, challenges, fear, commitment, love, family, education, civil rights, human rights. But I want to sit with you and tell you a 100 stories. 100 portraits for a 100 stories that will show you one more time how this country is made out of immigrants, who come every day in order to have a new opportunity for a better life for themselves and their families with law abiding principles.
This project raise the awareness of the need to give undocumented immigrants the opportunity to abide by the rule of law, but because for the system they do not exists, we are coming together in order to reform the system, and only together raising our voices and concern for our immigrant brothers and sisters disregarding their nationality, race, creed and sexual orientation.
You want to know what the purpose of this project?, Immigration Reform, not for the people who are already here, but for the generations to come.
Why am I doing this?, because I can.
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