La Negra

La Negra, the “apodo”, or nickname my grandmother’s family called her by, are a group of pictures that read as a second chapter to Casa de Mujeres. The images describe La Negra, as she transitions to the United States with her younger daughter. The character of the daughter is a construction played by my mother and myself and symbolically represents my mother as a young adult. My mother’s body and my face are blended together to create this representation. In this work, the women struggle with the shift in identity that migrating from Panamá to a small town in the American south stirs in them. Where do my grandmother and my mother fit within US society? The conflict is in assimilating into a culture where a distinct and ever more brutal history to color and class casts a shadow onto them, transforming their sense of self.