Ben'n Yalhalhj - I'm from Yalálag - Soy de Yalálag
Over the last years I've been documenting my Yalalteca culture, the Zapotec people originally from the Sierra Juarez in the Southern Mexican State of Oaxaca now spread all around Mexico and Los Angeles. I started this project as a dialogue with my grandmother (a Native Zapotec speaker) creating our own language through images. I’ve been collecting vernacular photos but also making images of my people in an attempt to connect us, to weave a net to talk about our identity and worldview.
I started what I consider my family album by visiting my relatives around our communities in Mexico, meeting my extended family to learn about their experiences as members of our migrating culture, our interconnection through music and traditional dances, the relation between us and our community, the relevance of our reciprocity practices and also the challenges of younger generations integrating into our practices among many other things.
For me, the vital part is to explore different rituals, traditions, thoughts, and lifestyles that allow us to keep connected over time and territory, to start conversations, then to share images from our motherland, to discover childhood friends of my parents. Even better, to meet a family member for the first time.
After doing this for several years, last year, I had an opportunity, supported by the National Geographic Society, to go to Los Angeles, (I'll share these images later this year). LA has the largest population of Oaxacan people outside Oaxaca and a big group from my hometown lives there too, they say around 3000 in the 2000s, at that time more than in Yalalag itself, even more now. I was curious to see first hand how my Yalalteca family lives in LA, to know if it was like in Mexico and what I found was a vibrant community able to permeate and “integrate” to the LA landscape, to fill Pico Avenue or any Koreatown street with traditional Oaxacan music, manifestations of religious celebrations on cold nights in December, traditional dances in public spaces and more. What I call “a latent culture moving between the shadows”.
So I have seen my culture transform and integrate into new lands because culture is not static, it eventually adapts over time, especially in new territories. This is also a family reunion, a way to honour my ancestors and to see our culture stay alive and withstand colonization processes.
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Early in the morning of my cousin Mela’s wedding day. Yalalag, Oaxaca, Mexico. July, 2018
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A group of little girls gathered to watch the traditional dances been performed at the Santa Cecilia celebration, Oaxaca City, November 2018.
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Martha Robles and her daugther Ximena, before to attend to the International Mother Language Day Festival in Oaxaca city.
February, 2017
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My mom’s first Spanish book abandoned at my grandparents home. Yalalag, Oaxaca, Mexico. 2016.
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Women making tortillas. During the fandango (traditional wedding ceremony) everyone contributes and helps to make the celebration possible. Yalalag, Oaxaca, Mexico. February 2017.
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My uncle Lucas Ruiz and my aunt Ana Chino. Ana is a activist to preserve and teach zapotec to young generations, specially those raised far away from Yalalag. Cuautepec, Mexico City, 2018.
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Nesly under the Banana plantation. Yalalag, Oaxaca, Mexico.
February, 2017.
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My aunt Reynalda.
When my grandfather passed away
my aunt was one of the first to arrive
at his home. She took care of the food preparation for the burial, as she has been doing for all our family
ceremonies, from celebrations to ones where we say goodbye. She
said she went early that morning to
visit him because she thought he had knocked on her door earlier that
day... There are mysterious things that connect us to each other. Yalalag, Oaxaca, Mexico. February, 2017.
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The only moment to don’t keep our feet from the ground is when we dance. Children members of the traditional dance group “Lla lnhi” performing Cuerudos. Oaxaca city, Mexico. November 2018.
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Two dancers performin Cuerudos traditional dance, and a tubist from the Yalalaltecos Unidos band, based in Mexico city. Over religious celebrations different dancers groups performed traditional dances. October, Mexico City, 2018.
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My cousins Jorge Y Rene Fabian. Oaxaca city, June 2018.
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Melina Monserrat, Yalaltec descendent, attending to the San Juan celebration organized by the yalaltec community based in Oaxaca city. Oaxaca, Mexico. June, 2018.
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A group of Yalaltec descendents based in Mexico city after they performed the “Negritos” traditional dance. At the Rosario virgin celebration. Cuautepec, Mexico city. October, 2018.
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Negritos dance performed at the San Antonio de Padua celebration orginized by the Yalaltec comunity based in Los Angeles, California. Los Angeles, USA. June, 2019.
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Alicia Aquino. Yalaltec of modern times. Oaxaca city. February, 2018.
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Musicians on their way to the San Antonio jaripeo, a form of bull riding. Yalalag, Oaxaca, Mexico. June, 2018.
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Cesar Poblano, element of Yalaltecos Unidos Band based in Mexico city. Cuautepec. Octubre, 2018
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Prisciliano Celis, on charge of the fireworks. He’s rol is to announce the calenda or procession comming thru the streets. Cuautepec, CDMX. October, 2018
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A mixe band invited to participate in the Rosario virgin celebration. Cuautepec. Mexico city. Octubre, 2018.
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La banda Autóctona de Yalálag, mejor conocidos como “Ratones”, es quizá la más reconocida entre los yalaltecos, actualmente esta conformada en su mayoría por niños y jóvenes.
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Delia, Saul, Mela and Ana. On Saul and Mela’s wedding. Delia and Ana travel from LA to attend to the celebration. Yalalag. July, 2018.
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The entrance of the old cemetery of Yalalag, which is used as a sacred place for making religious offerings. Yalalag, Oaxaca, Mexico. 2016.
Citlali Fabián
Citlali Fabián is a Mexican visual artist and storyteller who uses photography to explore ways of addressing identity and its connections with territory, migration, and community bonds.