Portraits of Community

Marina Romani
May 12, 2024
1 min read

Updated: May 31, 2024

This is a small selection of images among those that I've taken since 2011. 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 community bateys.

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. Their work, cultural activism, strength, and love are infinite and precious; their generosity and wisdom immense.

Forooza Baradar