Dos Generaciones: A Father and Daughter Through Pictures

A photography workshop in the Bronx sent disposable cameras to Latino parents and their American-born children to capture their lives. The project inspired a photography exhibit called Dos Generaciones. Kayla Desroches spoke with Joel Cortez and his daughter Natalie to find out what it means to be Mexican across generations in New York City. The Grady Alexis Gallery at El Taller Latino Americano exhibited Dos Generaciones: Mexico & New York between June 28th and July 30th, 2014. It featured the work from some of the Mexican-American participants of a photography workshop which artists Rafael Gamo and Susana Arellano designed and led last year in partnership with the organization, Mano a Mano: Mexican Culture Without Borders. Curator Andrea Arroyo, with assistance from Luz Aguirre, selected images by Joel Cortes and his daughter, Natalie Cortes, Martha Ponce and her daughter, Rosali Arteaga, and Luz Aguirre and her daughter, Eve Valle, to feature in the gallery. As part of the original workshop, Gamo and Arellano assigned parent-child parents one disposable camera per individual with 25 photographs per camera. The participants returned with insight into two different Mexican-American experiences and the similarities between them.