The Graduates

My project focuses on portraying students, mostly female, in their final year of high school from a small rural town in Buenos Aires, Argentina, using the week of their graduation and the graduation party as a symbolic narrative thread.

This ongoing series portrays high school seniors, primarily women, in a small rural town in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, using the tradition of graduation and party week as a symbolic narrative thread. For these adolescents, aged seventeen and eighteen, graduation signifies a departure to larger cities in search of new opportunities. For others, it means staying in their rural lives, but in a modified reality. This short period before their graduation party interests me deeply because their world is condensed into a frenzy of hope, fear, and expectations that bursts into energy during that special graduation night.

My approach to them is similar to that of a town photographer. I enjoy easy access to their community, having built a collaborative and trusting relationship with them. I give minimal guidance and prefer to let them pose and perform in ways that reflect how they want to be seen.

My inspiration comes from Mary Ellen Mark’s Prom, Florencia Blanco’s Salteños, and Nikolay Bakharev’s group portraits. This project aims to create a visual narrative that subtly captures this intense transformative period.

This town is 200 kilometers away from the city where I live (Buenos Aires), so this Women's Grant will help me continue this work