My Presentation
When was the last time you wrote a Love letter?
Sometimes this action can be perceived as corny , there’s is even certain sense of shame surrounding such aesthetics. But love letters have been one of the main tools of my project . (I handed some love letters to the dragons)
My MA question is : How can the experiences of Latam diaspora allow is to explore fluid identities within a Gen Z context?
I am interested in challenging elitist and bourgeois ideas of “good taste” (as seen in Bourdieu’s) in the West by exploring the contrasting experiences of Gen Z Latam diaspora. The aim is to redefine narrower understandings of identity, making room for fluidity and kinder interactions.
Why ? Because Latam (Cuban in my case) diaspora aesthetics and customs have long worked in contrast to European (Western) conceptions of “good taste”.The class and race factors play a major role into this. This is not a personal belief, but the result of taking into account the experiences of other immigrants and going through the words of more stablished experts and academics on the topic, for instance, Gloria Anzaldúa. During my research I have struggled to find essays or articles on Gen Z Latam diaspora. This could be due to the fact that Gen Z is quite a recent generation, but also to the fact that it is a very specific group, often neglected. Therefore, we all agree that it would be nice and inspiring to have more representation on the media.
I asked specifically Gen Z Latam and Cuban diaspora in the UK and Spain to participate in the Love Letter exercise . I got in touch with different Latam groups in the UK to spread the word, such us UAL Latinx Society and Directorio UK.
I gave them instructions to write a Love letter to something they love yet feel critical about. To reflect about their multiple layers. The format can also be any other form of art , whatever their interpretation of Love letter is.
I have realised that the Love Letter format is on itself great for gathering feedback/ evidence from stakeholders. But it can also be interesting to explore and play with its possibilities beyond that.
I’m working on a hybrid art book.The book is supposed to reflect the contrasting experience of Latam Gen Zs living in the West . It will play with ideas of Kircsh and realismo mágico by using visual culture. A way of displaying and embodying the confusion experienced by many of us whose indentities are fluid.
Reflections
By asking them to reinterpret a Love Letter. That love letter could be made in any medium such as poetry , painting or photography. The most important rule is that had to be made for someone or something they loved yet fell critical about.
This allowed my participants to reflect on their multiple layers and experiences, as well as became my tool to gather important feedback and create authentic connections.
Some of the dragons raised the fact that Love Letters are a Western creation and questioned my use of it. My response to that would be that we are decolonising the love letter format by allowing the participants to redefine and reclaim what a Love letter is to them. But I must also add that, that is exactly my point. We are surrounded by Western creations, that is a fact, and the point of my project is not really to distance myself from the West by giving voice to folk and indigenous traditions. Specially taking into the fact that there isn’t much to reclaim when it comes to Cuba or the Caribbean as indigenous cultures were almost completely lost after Spanish colonisation. We have created our own traditions, most of the times reinventing and reclaiming that which had been brought up by the West. For instance Santería practices, which are an amalgamation of mainly Catholicism and Yoruba (Lokumí) religious practices.
I want to make clear that when I speak of the West , I not only speak of it as a geopolitical space but as a system that has historically imposed itself onto other cultural practices via colonial history.
Yes, diaspora can mean literally living geographically displaced. But it can also refer to cultural and contextual displacement . For instance, very recently I talked to a girl who came from a very working class background, her parents were both immigrants and through out her childhood and teen years she struggled a lot financially. She also told me that the fact that she was black and Muslim didn’t make things any easier, ad she directly contrasted with the Western nuclear family. But later on she got accepted into Cambridge University and the context on which she would find herself were entirely different
Why the anti- book?
The anti – book is nothing but my personal interpretation of a Love letter.
A big part of my project has been focused on creating familia and bonding with the many Gen z Latin American diaspora who go through experiences similar to mine. It has been
But within that, this project was born from my desire to expand beyond my confusion, my displacement and my pain.
I can sincerely say that I am a mess myself, so the other side of my project is rooted in navigating my own fluidity.
I have chosen the idea of Syncretism and Santería themes because these are ideas that are deeply rooted in my own upbringing, in with which I have experienced both love and shame in many occasions.