about me
Twenty-two years ago, I was born in the country of alpacas and llamas. My sister was four years old and was very jealous of my intrusion into her life as the only princess of the house. My father, a Peruvian and forensic anthropologist, worked for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and my mother, a Brazilian sociologist, took a year off from her development work. They met in Haiti, where she has worked for more than two decades. My twenty-two years may seem few and yet each of them is full of incredible experiences. My stay in Peru was brief, since my mother decided to join my father in Serbia. I was just a baby, but I remember the negative impact my father's work with mass graves, morgues, and victims' families had on me. My parents divorced and we moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, my mother's hometown, where we lived for three years. I became literate in Portuguese and learned to play Capoeira. However, due to my mother's fatal attraction to Haiti, we moved to Port-au-Prince, where she worked for a non-governmental organization in a disadvantaged neighborhood. She made sure my sister and I were immersed in her work and weren't raised in a bubble. I remember how fascinated I was by the Hyppolite market, with its imposing iron structure painted entirely in red and green and its street vendors making their way, carrying tea, coffee, bananas, cosmetics and so many other multicolored products. My mother's work involved our participation in community life in these lively neighborhoods. These visits represented great opportunities for a future image hunter. That's when I started using my first analog camera. Since then, I have tried to record all my experiences. I photographed and filmed everything, every day. Thanks to my parents' diverse backgrounds and work experience, I became more aware of the cultural diversity and social difficulties that surrounded me.
Unfortunately, the 2010 earthquake destroyed what was left of the structure of my beloved Hyppolite market, which had already been devastated by several fires. Our house was very solid and, unlike millions, we were saved. My mother rescued two companions who were seriously injured. There were several aftershocks and we spent the next few nights in our outdoor patio waiting to be evacuated. My life took a sharp turn again. My mother had to quit her job and we moved to Miami, Florida where I started a new life, trying to cope with very traumatic memories and missing the abundance of colors and social purpose of Haiti. Life became calmer but less stimulating for a while. That may explain why I chose theater as a high school major. I wanted to explore new challenges, give wings to my imagination, be inspired and, ultimately, overcome my traumas. Then came COVID-19 and the unbearable isolation in a Miami suburb. Empty streets, no people to photograph, everything gray and out of focus. This arid life led me to decide to finish my last year of high school in Paris, where my father lived and worked for the International Red Cross. Despite all the difficulties, I decided to study cinematography and visual arts for 1 year at the TAI University School of Arts. Currently, I am studying cinematography and visual arts at the Escola Superior de Cinema i Audiovisuals de Catalunya ESCAC.