05/01/2026
“My Storytelling Portraits series began as my first-ever solo project back in 2019, a pre-pandemic time where I traveled to Central America to hear about life in El Salvador, one person at a time, over a span of six months.
After I graduated, I decided not to enter the workfield right away, but instead ran towards this passion project that was self-funded. Within those six months, I interviewed over thirteen people who resided in El Salvador, while also spending time in Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala.
During that time, the city of San Salvador, and neighboring municipalities were controlled by gangs such as MS-13 and Barrio-18, and deemed unsafe for tourists to visit. El Salvador went through a great Civil War that lasted for 12 years (1979-1972) and a great massacre that left a society marked by trauma, inequality, weak institutions and violence as a norm of political life. I wanted a chance at
changing the narrative and providing an outlook on people’s lives that were affected.
When I moved to Richmond, I knew I wanted to continue this series in a way that would highlight and elevate the voices of creatives in the area that have experienced hardships, and limited opportunities for their art practice. I just wanted to be a platform for them to speak on the
challenges of what it’s like to be creative in this city..”
Read the rest at Gallery 5 for from 5-11pm.
- (she/her),
Photographer and Musician |
Founder of Storytelling Portraits
-STORYTELLING PORTRAITS-
📍Photos taken in Shields Lake
