Celebrating Los Quince (15th Birthday) is a popular tradition in most parts of Latin America. It is celebrated with a lavish ritual that is supposed to mark the transition into a woman.
This tradition came from the Spanish colonial times, when bourgeoisie who were settling down in the continent needed an event to present the female members of the family into society. Thus , the flamboyant dresses and tiaras .
But nowadays, it has become a core ritual for every Latin American female identifying individual, no matter the social background. Some families even open savings accounts for their daughters’ Quinces.
That being said, it is still a controversial ritual that arises debates on gender politics and colonial history.
I remember my Quinces as an strange time in my life . On the one hand, I was excited because I had been dreaming about this moment since I could remember. I was particularly looking forward wearing the dress, the make up ( I wasn’t aloud until that moment) and, most of all, the photoshoot.
However, another side of me was ashamed. This kind of ritual is not very well seen in Spain, often deemed as extravagant and outdated, so I felt like if I shared this with my school peers back in Madrid they would probably make fun of me. And I was right.
But I did it regardless.
I wanted to recreate my Quince pictures in 2022. I got in touch with photographer Daria Lazo ( @_darialazo_ ), whose practice focuses on the representation of the female body and mental health. Together we attempted capture the essence of the old pictures. Yet, this quinceañera is totally displaced in time and space, within the parameters of suburbian London.
Who Knows, after this I might create the new tradition of recreating my Quinces every once in a while…