Wish You Were Here explores the personal and political aspects of my home and family life using photographs, auto interviews, and sculpture. The exhibition was inspired by my grandmother, Margarita Nunez, who passed away in 2018, and serves as an expansive altar in her honor. Her legacy, memory, and identity have influenced my identity as a Chicana from Los Angeles. The objects made for this exhibition, including a roadside memorial for my cousin Jordan who passed away in 2020, reflect this personal history and simultaneously foreground broader issues of loss, displacement, longing, memory, identity, and family.
My mother, Elsa, was given images of my grandmother's neighborhood and backyard. I asked her what these images reminded her of when looking at them. This resulted in conversations between my mother and me about family memories and my mother’s childhood in El Sereno, Los Angeles. The sound is displayed in conjunction 8 - 15 in x 15 in Phototex prints.
