Week 9: Thalia Gochez

The artist that stood out to me during last week's presentation was film photographer Thalia Gochez. What caught my attention the most about her was that she only began shooting recently, when Trump got elected into office. Her work stemmed from the need to cope in a political climate that was ultimately dehumanizing and erasing the subjects of her work. I had seen her photographs before but I had never known she was the one behind it, but now that I know she is most definitely my favorite photographer. The majority of the subjects within her photographs are womxn of color, in particular brown and black womxn. Gochiz photographs, bring a sense of belonging to me; her subjects faces are familiar despite never meeting them, and the locations feel like home, like my neighborhood, like my neighbors. I also particularly enjoy the lighting in her photographs, it creates a sort of angelic affect, leading to these black/brown being depicted as holy beings. Gochez also introduces subtle markers of identity within her photos; in this image specifically, one of the sisters has ribbon the colors of the Mexican flag tied into her braid, while the other wears a jersey that say "Mexico" across the front; the signature large hoop earrings are also a particularly nice touch.

The photographers that I know by name are all white, and that is uneducation of my part as well as misrepresentation on the part of the industry. I refrain from calling it a lack of representation based on the fact that I know that there are womxn of color photographers, I also know that the resources allotted to them to become industry big names are practically nonexistent.