By Pedro Inzunza Arroyo and Marcela Toledo
Reporters
Roots, traditions and folklore are all to be artistically represented in 40 black and white prints by student photographers beginning this afternoon at Cal Poly’s Kennedy Library as part of the photo documentary exhibit, "With our own Eyes."
The 11creators of this photo documentary have their roots in the indigenous town of San Juan Nuevo Parangaricutiro, though they also feel identified with their communities on this side of the border, Paso Robles and Templeton.
The college and high school participants include Betty Liliana Banderas Martinez, Rocco Murillo, José Murillo, Cayetano Contreras, Jr., María Campoverde, Esther Aguilar Soto, Esthela Campoverde Toral, Mariano Aguilar, Jr., Jasmín Landín Herrera, Esmeralda Landin Herrera, Rafael Antolino, and the adults Orchid Contreras y María Contreras.
Beginning in September of 2004, the youth volunteered to participate in a 9-month photography project funded by the California Council for the Humanities. They attended photography and writing workshops and were given cameras and an unlimited supply of black and white film.
With cameras in hand, they set out to capture photographs of their lives, their family traditions, and the experiences of their community. The result is an intimate portrait of their diverse and rich identity using images and writing.
The photos presented in this exhibit were taken in San Juan Nuevo and in Paso Robles, and were gathered by the young people over the course of nine months at their homes, schools, barrios, and at family gatherings and celebrations. Other photos were taken on the 1,400-mile journey that many San Juanenses make on their annual return home to Michoacan from the United States.
Too often immigrants and other underrepresented communities have not had the opportunity to tell their own stories; at other times their stories are told for them. The images in "With Our Own Eyes/Con Nuestros Propios Ojos," provide an unfiltered look at the lives of these young people from both sides of the border.
María Campoverde, 18, exhibits five prints. She stated that she identifies as much with San Juan Nuevo as she does with Paso Robles, though in Mexico she feels “with more freedom and everybody knows each other.” She prefers living here and only going on vacation to the land of her parents.
Differing somewhat from Campoverde, Mariano Aguilar, who also exhibits five prints taken in his native San Juan Nuevo, prefers to live over there because “it’s a different lifestyle. You have more freedom and know more people.” With Campoverde, he agreed that photography for him is strictly a hobby.
Betty Banderas, 16, who has two prints on display, arrived in Paso Robles when she was 12 years old. One of the shots she took was in San Juan and the other in Paso Robles, that latter which features two little girls at play. “I took it because it reminded me of when I arrived in Paso and I had my best friend,” Banderas said, and she added that she liked living in Mexico more because “over there one has more freedom, there’s more things to do, a lot of events and here you’re always locked in the house. I also like how people enjoy religious events and show their feelings toward other folks,” she noted.
San Juan Nuevo is located in the western Mexican state of Michoacan in a geographic region known as the Meseta P'urhepecha, which is home to 109,000 Purepechas, one of Mexico's largest indigenous groups. Rich in cultural traditions that date to pre-conquest times, economic hardship and immigration are also a part of the area's heritage.
These young people, like other immigrants before them have come to El Norte (The United States) with their families seeking a better life. It is estimated that well over 150 families from San Juan Nuevo call Paso Robles home.
These images document the unique social and cultural aspects of a group of indigenous Mexicans who have been living in San Luis Obispo County for over 30 years. However, their traditions, culture and place of origin are little known or understood. They having come north bringing with them their distinctive culture, language, support networks and other traditions, while they adapt to their second home here in the United States.
For more information about the exhibit please contact Pedro Inzunza Arroyo, Project Director. He can be reached at 805-783-2346 or 805-226-3215 and by email at: parroyo@gmail.com.
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