Matt Black

     Matt Black is a photographer in California, one day he started making trips to Oaxaca, Mexico to photograph the life of the community of indigenous people there. He has done other photography projects but the reason why I chose to talk about a couple pictures from the Mixteca portfolio is that I am from Oaxaca and these next three pictures touched my heart and allowed me to reminisce about home.

    This first photograph is quite simple, but when I look at it it is like I am 6 years old again and walking to school with my cousins. My grandmothers' house was not close to others like the ones in the picture, we were out farther in the country. The only things around my Mami Ali's house were her store across the street and the river next to the house. But similar to the vibe that the picture gives off, our town was always quiet except for the noises of nature and farm animals.

    

    My mom sent us to live with my Mami Ali due to the cartel violence in Juarez, so it is heartbreaking to hear that more and more people are now leaving Oaxaca because of the same reason and all the communities are being preyed upon. I chose the photo below because the room in which the woman is standing is similar to my grandmother's kitchen. Specifically the window, we had a window in our kitchen as well but it was a square. Every night after we all got done eating dinner we would set up a plate filled with the leftovers and leave it on the table for the stray cat that lived in the neighborhood.

    This last picture is the best one and truly the one that most resembles our community. I think by now everyone knows that Hispanics like to party and are all about having strong connections within our community. The reason why we are able to withstand so much is because of the amazing support that we have within each other and Black captured that perfectly in this photo. I don't think you are supposed to feel one specific feeling when looking at the photograph and that is probably the point. We are Latin and allowed to feel whatever we want!