I’m ready for what’s next

What pieces or projects have you been working on lately?
Recently, I’ve been wrapping up a project about cantinas in Oaxaca. I began it several years ago, and while there is still more to photograph and listen to, it’s nearing completion. I’m also developing a project focused on people displaced by the process of gentrification in the city of Oaxaca, which seeks to document this process through the life stories and lived experiences of those who once inhabited the city.

What did you learn (or unlearn) while working on them?
I believe the most valuable thing I’ve learned during this process is that photography goes far beyond the moment of pressing the shutter. We make photographs with what we know, what we feel, and what we aim to express. Behind every image there is a series of meanings and stories that led to its creation. I want to make photographs for my entire life.

What words, ideas or emotions were going through your head?
In some way, I try to photograph everything that moves through me. This can be pain, nostalgia, a love for life, but also what no longer is and what has changed with the passage of time—what changes before our eyes but not in the way we remember it.

Were there any conversations, movies, music, or books that made their way into that work?
These projects are shaped by conversations with my loved ones—my family and my friends—their experiences and feelings in different spaces throughout the city of Oaxaca.

However, on a broader level, it has undoubtedly been my conversations with my friend Mario Cruz that led me (and continue to lead me) to discover what I am building through my images, and to question myself beyond them.

What's been the most difficult thing you've faced recently in your creative process?
Feeling stuck, developing, scanning, and not finding what I’m looking for. But I’ve come to understand that this, too, is part of the process, and that eventually it will arrive.

What is your favorite restaurant and what do you recommend we order?
All local restaurants and small businesses—support local. Everything is delicious.

If your life were a movie this month, what would it be called and who would write the soundtrack?
It would be called I’m ready for what’s next with Western Playland by Holy Wave playing in the background.

Recommend one or more artists you follow who inspire you, and tell us what you like most about their work or their way of working.
I’m deeply drawn to the work of several Mexican photographers, especially Alexa Herrera. I love her gaze and the way she creates such beautiful images around diverse themes. Every time I see one of her photographs, I think about her ability to see the world in that way.

On the other hand, Oaxaca is home to many remarkable artists. In photography, Lore Goga creates beautiful work with light; her pinhole photographs feel almost magical.