This a small selection of images (from my iPhone 7 camera) among the thousands that I've taken over the years. They are portraits of friends whom I love and admire, mostly taken during rehearsals and shows at La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley and at Dance Mission Theater in San Francisco.
These images are part of a broader multimedia project about the Bay Area, live performance, and activism.
In my written, visual, and musical practice, I'm indebted to culture workers, educators, activists, artists, and scholars promoting equality and social justice. Their expertise and values remain a compass for my work. I'm especially thankful to my family at La Peña Cultural Center, "a multicultural gathering place rooted in the Latinx diaspora at all of its intersections, including Afro-Latinx, indigenous, multiracial, and LGBTQ." I'm forever grateful to the bomba y plena community, to Aguacero, and to Shefali Shah, Hector Lugo, Roman Ito Carrillo, Natalia Neira Retamal, Bianca Torres, Sandra Garcia Rivera, Maria De La Rosa, Raina León. Their work, cultural activism, strength, and love are infinite and precious; their generosity and wisdom immense.
No matter where I am in the world, La Peña is home to me.
Maria De La Rosa
Shefali Shah and Aguacero
Julia Gutierrez-Rivera
Sandra Garcia Rivera
Jo-Annie Seda
Randella Louise Jones
Yairamaren Roman Maldonado
Sarita Shah
