Map of Latin American Dreams
1992-2013
A Map of Latin American Dreams explores the desires and hopes of individuals throughout Latin America. The project consists of many trips, beginning in 1992 and continuing through 2013, to Argentina, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Brazil, and Colombia. I photographed families, groups, and individuals who are represented and acknowledged via collaborative portraits, including texts that anchor their history and personal stories. Their voices are expressed on a hand held blackboard with chalk writing responding to the request, “Can you write down a wish or a dream that you have?” I asked those assembled before my camera to be personal and specific in their own words.
The project looks to amplify the voices of the under-represented, to give them dimension through personal stories. The photographs and texts reflect upon the history of past decades in each country, and how individual lives have been directly touched and altered by local, national and regional traumatic events and policies. The people of these territories are subject to theideologies, political conflicts, and economic practices that engulf them, shaping their daily experience and expectations for the future. There is hope despite despair, there are dreams as yet unrealized, and mourning for those lives lost or disappeared. I hope to create a bridge of understanding, bringing viewers to recognize the continuing need for social justice and reconciliation.
Mi hermano sueña con estudiar música.
My brother dreams of studying music.
Yavi
Quisiera tener mis tierras propias.
I wish to have my own land.
Juripucio
Mucho caballo.
Lots of horses.
Los Conquistadores
Deseo vivir para mi esposa, mis hijos y mis nietos.
To live for my wife, my children and my grandchildren.
Buenos Aires
Quiero casarme con un yuma.
I want to marry an American.
La Habana
Yo quisiera ser poeta.
I wish to be a poet.
La Habana
Que la necesidad no perturbe nuestros sueños.
That our needs not disturb our dreams.
La Habana
Pistola.
Pistol.
Chiapas
En el municipio San Pedro Polhó se encuentran 5.333 desplazados. Están sufriendo mucho. Queremos de lograr apoyo, alimentación, medicinas.
In the municipality of San Pedro Polho there are 5,333 displaced people. They are suffering greatly. We want to obtain support, food, medicine.
Chiapas
Quiero ser policía.
To be a policewoman.
Maclovio Rojas
Cariño.
Affection.
Maclovio Rojas
Encontrar la forma de poder manifestar lo que llevo dentro.
To find a way to express what I carry inside.
Cusco
Una vida larga que no sea triste.
A long life that isn’t sad.
Ollantaytambo
- Ganar la tinka.
- Ganar la tinka.
- Estar en paz con Dios.
- Paz y justicia social en el mundo.
- To win the lotery.
- To win the lotery.
- To be in peace with God.
- Peace and social justice to the world.
Cusco
Mi deseo es encontrar el cuerpo de mi hijo caído en combate en la lucha contra la dictadura de Somoza y poder darle sana sepultura.
To find the body of my son, fallen in combat while fighting against Somoza’s dictatorship, and give him a proper burial.
Estelí
Mi deseo es ver preparados a mis hijos para afrontar los problemas de desempleo.
To see that my children are prepared to face the problems of unemployment.
Granada
Regresar a Europa.
To return to Europe.
Granada
Ayudar a mis hijos que están en los Estados Unidos a pagar su deuda al coyote.
To help my children who are in the United States to pay their debt to the coyote.
Granada
Quiero que mi país sea libre de la violencia política y familiar.
That my country be free of political and domestic violence.
Quetzaltenango
Tener tres hijos.
To have three children.
Santiago de Atitlán
Yo, Paje, quiero que mi hija estudie para defender sus derechos.
I, Paje, want my daughter to study in order to defend her rights.
Alagoas
Tener mucho dinero.
To have a lot of money.
Río de Janeiro
Trabajar.
Work.
Salvador de Bahía
Conocer la verdad de lo que sucedió con nuestros familiares para que se haga justicia, que los torturadores no queden impunes.
To know the truth about what happened to our relatives in order that justice be done, that their torturers not go unpunished.
Río de Janeiro
Mi sueño es morirme.
My dream is to die.
Medellín
Que me devuelvan los restos de mi hijo José Luis Olivo Cardena, víctima de los paras.
That they return my son’s remains to me José Luis Olivo Cardena, victim of the paras (Paramilitary).
San Onofre
Yo sueño en un día volver a mi hogar.
I dream of one day returning home.
Medellín
Que mis papás vuelvan a sonreír.
That my parents might smile again.
Medellín
