The 9th annual Latin American Foto Festival at the Bronx Documentary Center aims ‘for our Latino community to see themselves’

A variety of new indoor and outdoor photography installations have hit the Bronx, designed to highlight various stories and issues unique to Latin American countries and communities within the broader Latino diaspora.

The 9th annual Latin American Foto Festival opened July 9 at the Bronx Documentary Center (BDC), with a reception led by Education Director Ricardo J. Partida that included a walk-through at the BDC’s main building at 614 Courtlandt Ave, the Annex building and the surrounding blocks.

All installations will remain on view until July 26.

One of the highlights of the exhibit was placed throughout the community garden next to BDX Annex. Works from first-generation Nuyorican photographer Ed Alvarez portraying the spirit of the South Bronx were emotionally introduced by BDC Founder and Creative Director Mike Kamber. Alvarez passed away two months ago from cancer.

“I really mean it when I say I can’t think of a photographer who’s more community oriented than Ed Alvarez,” Kamber said.

Partida highlighted an exhibit focused on a book, the “Archivo de la Memoria Trans,” a community archive which preserves the history of transgender people in Argentina.

“One of the things that we really have to think about is the fact that in Latin America, specifically in many different countries, being part of the LGBTQ+ community, being trans, is something that is not conceived too highly,” Partida said.

An exhibit from Matías Delacroix captures moments of ordinary everyday life and crisis in Venezuela, documenting Venezuelan displacement, migration and community.

“The project tries to be as faithful as possible, as close as possible, to the resilience of the Venezuelan people —actually, peace — in their way to confront adversity in the political field, economic field, social issues, and tries to be like as faithful as possible,” Delacroix said, as translated by BDC’s longtime volunteer Coline Chevrin.

Alicia Vera presented “Va a Llover Toda La Noche” (It’s Going to Rain All Night), a gallery which portrays Vera’s struggle becoming a caregiver for her own mother after an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

“I just knew my mom was slowly disappearing, and so it just became this sort of obsession for me to start documenting her, documenting her and her objects, figuring out who she was,” Vera said.

After learning that Latinos are more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, the obsession became something more.

“I realized that I had something to say about the disease and the way that we, as a family, cope with it, because at the end of the day, we’re the ones who, I guess, sort of suffer through it,” Vera said.

Karla Gachet has a banner of her project entitled “Cumbia en Mi Tierra,” a photo series that she completed with Ivan Kashinsky over three years, that documents the importance, Cumbia, a rhythmic tradition of dance, to resilience and self expression across the Latin American diaspora.

“For me the main point of this whole project is for our Latino community to see themselves in these photos and to just remember how beautiful their land is and where we come from and how something as simple as a rhythm can free you from oppression,” Gachet said.

For the first time, the festival includes a country outside of Latin America. An ongoing project from Chris Perez documents rural communities in the Dominican Republic, inspired by Perez’s own process to expand his understanding of his Dominican lineage in his adulthood.

“When we think about ‘What does it mean to be Latino?,’ ‘What does it mean to have Latinidad?,’ Many, many questions come to mind. 
Is a Latino a person that is born in Latin America, or is a person that is Latino, a person that shares and has their origins and their culture from Latin America?,” Partida said. 

Another attendee, Guillermo Mondragon, enjoyed “Limones, Balas y Graffitis” (Lemons, Bullets, and Graffiti). Emilio Espejel’s exploration of the standard of violence in Mexico resonated with Mondragon. As a Mexican with a grandfather born in an area close to active cartel violence, Mondragon was unable to visit his family.

“I’m really grateful to be here and see all this work of Latin people working in the US and trying to bring the perspective of the political landscape in Latin America,” Mondragon said.

The festival also includes a showcase from Santiago Mesa about the suicide crisis in Colombia’s indigenous community, Marco Garro’s photo series documenting the effects of rampant mining on living conditions in Peru, Christian Ochoa’s photographic investigation into the water contamination of Chile’s Loa River, and Laura Garcia’s project highlights the efforts of Tz’utujil Maya women to protect a sacred Guatemalan lake from tourism-induced pollution. 

All installations include identification labels that are readable in both Spanish and English. 

Upcoming events in the Latin American Foto Festival include a photobook talk with Vera on July 11 at 5 p.m., a talk with Delacroix on July 13 at 6:30 p.m., a memorial for Ed Alvarez on July 18 at 6 p.m., and a photobook talk with Ochoa on July 24 at 6:30 p.m. which requires RSVP.

The closing celebration is on July 26 at noon.

Maurice Burbridge is an intern at the Bronx Times. He can be reached at [email protected]. For more coverage, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!