Items

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  2021-09-11

  Essential Immigrant Stories - Photo Book 2021

  Essential Immigrant Stories is a photo-documentary project by visual artist and photographer, Arlette Cepeda, that focuses on highlighting the challenges and opportunities the COVID-19 pandemic has created for Staten Island’s immigrant community members through portraits and accompanying stories. The goal of this project is to elevate and validate the immigrant experience and their impact in our Staten Island community. “Through portraits and accompanying short stories, I'm interested in documenting the experiences of the often neglected, silenced or omitted immigrant population of this particular north-shore neighborhood.” “It is my hope that this project can help create awareness, increase empathy, acceptance and understanding of our otherness, narrowing the divide and discrimination often faced by immigrants.” - Arlette Cepeda
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  2021-01-29

  Self Portrait

  I made a self portrait of myself with a mask on. I gave myself no facial features because I feel that when I have a mask on I feel invisible. During quarantine I have had lots of time to think and reflect on everything and that has helped me grow as a person. I have also had time to think about all the things that are happening externally like I have grown taller and have moved up 3 shoe sizes. I think in this isolation it has helped me grow, inside and out.
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  2020-04

  Covid Portraits: Allston

  I decided to do a series of portraits of family members in masks to document the pandemic.
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  2020-04

  Covid Portraits: Los Angeles

  I decided to do a series of portraits of family members in masks to document the pandemic.
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  2020-04-11

  School Picture Day--At Home

  During the quarantine period, schools were closed and parents were thrown into new roles as teachers. Most parents didn’t even understand 4th grade math or how to deal with all of the curriculum thrown at them literally overnight. This meme deals with one aspect of school life—the school picture day which is a special day where photographers come in and everyone in the whole school has individual portraits done along with the group class photos. The humor here is that quarantine and home schooling was hard on everyone and so many of us were stressed and pushed to the max—including the kids. So by dressing up in his finest and announcing it was time to take the school photo, either the kid was very sweet and trying to recreate his past life, or he was cracking under the pressure—like his parents were on the brink of doing.