In Transit and Displacement

Magical Realism, blends the mundane with the fantastical. As Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez once wrote: “Life is not what one lived, but what one remembers and how one remembers it in order to recount it."

Having left Mexico at a young age, my trips back home have become quasi-archaeological journeys to unearth a precious resource: memory. These research-driven expeditions of street documentation capture scenes that reflect everyday life yet possess an uncanny, timeless essence. Fleeting moments where reality subtly shifts, create a bridge between the familiar and the fantastical—a bridge shaped by the experiences of my transit and displacement.

As someone who migrated and grew up outside of Mexico, I bring an outsider's perspective to the quotidian moments I choose to capture. Distance has heightened my awareness of the poetic and symbolic qualities embedded in the mundane. Hence, I search for the surreal and absurd—scenes I long to carry with me upon returning to my adopted home. Migration has emphasized these visual narratives to me; a poignant realization that I am now a tourist in my own home, emphasizing the tension between what simultaneously feels both foreign yet familiar.

Through this street documentary series, I evoke the rich tradition of Magical Realism, blending the mundane with the fantastical. As Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez once wrote: “Life is not what one lived, but what one remembers and how one remembers it in order to recount it." This sentiment echoes my exploration of how memory—real or imagined, personal or collective—transforms through the lens of migration and nostalgia, becoming a marker of identity and cultural belonging.