Yvette D.- Identity

Ethnic ancestry: Both of my parents are from a rural area in Durango, Mexico. It’s a landlocked, mountainous, and arid state in the northern region of Mexico.

Religious affiliation: Roman Catholic

Holidays/Events: New Year’s Eve/Day, Christmas Eve/Day, Lent (Ash Wednesday, Holy Week, Good Friday, Easter Sunday), Thanksgiving, August 15^th (The Assumption of the Virgin Mary is one of the big feast days in the town my parents are from, so I grew up celebrating it there during my summer vacations.), Mother’s Day (both Mexican and U.S.), Father’s Day, birthdays, memorial days, etc.

Do you identify with any of these for yourself? Describe.

Although I was raised as a Catholic, I can’t say that I identify with any of these holidays or celebrations in a religious sense.  For the large part, I consider myself to be an apostate or agnostic.  Despite that, most of the holidays that my family celebrates contain a lot of family traditions that stem from their particular region in Mexico.  In that sense, I identify with them more culturally than religiously.

Have you, or has anyone in your family, been harassed or victimized because of race, ethnicity, sex, sexual preference or religious affiliation? Describe.

Personally, I’ve only experienced what some might call “microaggressions,” that mainly consist of small comments such as, “You’re smart for a woman/Mexican.” My parents on the other hand, immigrated to the U.S. in the 1970s. My father often tells stories of how racist and prejudice police officers were in the ‘70s, and that it wasn’t uncommon for them to be pulled over for no apparent reason or asked to pay “fines” to these officers directly.

Do you identify with a given culture than is not addressed in the above questions? Describe.

I've always been involved in arts and crafts in some way or another (entering contests, taking classes, etc.) so I identify with the artist and designer communities.

Do you have friends that cross ethnic, race, religious, gender, or cultural barriers? Describe.

My best friend is part of the LGBT community, I have several friends from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds (European, Asian, Latin American, etc.), and from different religious backgrounds (atheist, Christian, Jewish).  Having friends from different backgrounds has never been an issue for me since I grew up in a rather accepting environment.

Locate a situation of tension in the material generated from these questions. These can include news, history, media, narrative, fiction and non-fiction.
Growing up with very strict and traditional Mexican parents I always struggled with their expectations and society's expectations of who I should be and how I should act vs. what I wanted.
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Concept

I feel like most of my life is just a hodgepodge of crap, so I want to use the deconstructive approach to demonstrate that. I want to use photography and either manipulate it by layering it on Photoshop, or incorporating watercolor, ink, and other mixed media. The idea is to incorporate places I've been, portraits, and objects I use in day-to-day life. I'm not sure what elements of my life to focus on as of yet however. As far as format goes I'm leaning more towards a poster series.

Dan Moutford, Januz Miralles

 Sylwana Zybura

Liz Brizzi