Uprooted
Guggenheim Fellowships: Awarded 2006
New York 05/31/2002
It is now my twelfth year in New York City. For the last seven years, I have been working on a photo book that will encompass the journey of immigrants, a story that is not new but one that appears in every civilization, perpetually assuming new forms, afflictions, powers, and symbols. The subject of this book is born out of a landscape—a site I want to explore. This landscape stretches from Guatemala to Mexico to New York City, and when mixed with the immigrant experience, the space becomes complex and charged with meaning.
Guggenheim Fellowships: Awarded 2006
New York 05/31/2002
It is now my twelfth year in New York City. For the last seven years, I have been working on a photo book that will encompass the journey of immigrants, a story that is not new but one that appears in every civilization, perpetually assuming new forms, afflictions, powers, and symbols. The subject of this book is born out of a landscape—a site I want to explore. This landscape stretches from Guatemala to Mexico to New York City, and when mixed with the immigrant experience, the space becomes complex and charged with meaning.
The most important factor that has contributed to the creation of these photographs is the environment in which I grew up. My family were farmers from the countryside of Venezuela before immigrating to the country's capital, Caracas. It was this world that predisposed me to certain themes, characters, problems, and emotional and psychological conflicts. I took these photographs between 1994 and 2001 when I was in my late twenties and living as an immigrant in New York City.
-- Victor Sira
-- Victor Sira
