I am interested in the power of narrative and how it shapes our personal memory as well as our collective history. In my work I question the language of images and how photography can be used now. By photographing, printing, rephotographing, over and over again, I emulate the process of writing and distorting history. I work an image until that moment in which the same experience, by repetition, omission, intervention and by perceptual experience, becomes something else. I am fascinated by that moment at which understanding or recognition begin to dissolve; that moment which we inhabit during the act of forgetting.
Desmemoria (Disremembering) is an ongoing series in which I explore the power of narrative and how it shapes our personal memory and our collective history. I was born and raised in Mexico City and growing up there, there was very little information about our family history. It was a topic that nobody talked about. I have always known my surname is Lebanese but I knew little else. My grandparents never shared family pictures with us. When they passed and I was able to go through the photographs left behind, I was surprised to find many of them had been defaced. There were either people or places that had been covered, erased, or scratched off. It seems to me that they were holding on to these photographs in order not to forget and yet they had oblitarated people and places. Living in the USA at this time as a Mexican woman with an Arab surname, I understand the need to hide in order to feel safe around certain people or under certain circumstances. I use found photographs as well as my own photographs in this series. My process is to shoot, print, rephotograph, over and over again. I work an image until that moment in which the same experience, by omission, repetition, intervention, and by perceptual experience, becomes something else. I am fascinated by the moment at which understanding or recognition begin to dissolve; that moment which we inhabit during the act of forgetting.
