"Beyond the color of my skin, my blood is mestiza, my way of thinking, the way I look, and the way people look at me… the condition that others pointed out in me, that today I take for mine."

Mestiza is a term to refer to people who shared half indigenous and half caucasian blood. An adjective used to consolidate the identity of a nation, based on the idealization that our mixed-race was favored from its white/Spanish heritage. The term as I see is a volatile mark to show a distinction and race supremacy. This photo essay attempts to show the glory of a variety of women within our mixed culture.

Over history, women in the world have been suffered from discrimination. In Mexico being a woman and also looks like an indigenous put us in a really vulnerable position. Mestiza is a photo project to amplify our voices, the images of contemporary Mexican women. It’s a platform to make us visible in a way where the photographic act is crucial when it encourages us to give a part of ourselves to make it possible. That's why I choose Wet Plate Collodion, a Nineteenth-century photographic technique to make these portraits.

I call this a series of collaborative portraits of women in my life, in an exploration of our identity.  The women in my portraits are friends and family, I chose them and asked them to participate because I was looking for people who I felt close to, people who I felt empathetic with. They are my mom, cousins, nieces, and friends. They put their time and souls in these images. I waited and I captured them.

My hope is to show what captivates my attention from them and how they respond when we are open to dialogue, to create a representation of ourselves. To re-shape the image of our identity. This is to encourage us to appreciate and embrace ourselves from our strengths, but also our weakness as a vibrant part of our complex culture.