Esta Soy Yo
Our Story to Tell
Everything we experience—our heritage, the city we live in, and the work we pursue—is carried with us and expressed in how we show up in the world. These artworks celebrate visibility, pride, and resistance. Through photography, our artists reflect on the personal and collective forces that shape their identities, asserting their right to be seen, heard, and remembered.
In Esta Soy Yo: Our Story to Tell, artists turn their cameras toward family heirlooms and home rituals, honoring the resilience that lives in our homes and the histories that live with us. This exhibition weaves together a narrative of cultural memory, self-definition, and the power of claiming one’s own story.
TEACHING ARTISTS: Coffee Kang
TEACHING ARTIST ASSISTANT: Yahaira S. Guerrero
MENTORS: Alondra Costilla, Amanda Tapia, Arrietta van der Voort, Carolyn Cardoza, Chloe Cusimano, Jazmin Garcia, Kyra Saldana, and Nicole Maturo.
This exhibition is sponsored by Angel City Football Club & NYX Professional Makeup.
Photo printing for this exhibition sponsored by Epilogue Inc.
Allisson
Hernandez-Lozano, AGE 17
Hilos que no se esconden
This semester, we discussed acts of everyday resistance. With violent ICE raids, I was advised to stop dressing with long skirts and lace patterns inspired by Hispanic culture. My resistance was refusing to hide the style influenced by my Mexican culture. For this photoshoot, I honored that style and the Latino neighborhood I’ve lived in my whole life. I dressed my friends in my clothes and created an image using my accessories to embrace the femininity from my culture.
ABOUT ME
Allisson Hernandez is a 17-year-old first generation Mexican-American artist born and raised in Virgil Village. Her community, culture, and identity show up in her art through the belongings scattered around her room and through the way she styles her models. She’s inspired by the femininity of Hispanic culture – lace, ribbons, and flowy skirts – and wants to showcase the way these aesthetics can be empowering, despite the way they’re often viewed. She’s been interested in photography since 6th grade, but didn't always have the resources to practice. With Las Fotos Project, she has been able to fully experiment and put herself out there to capture the things she sees and challenge her creativity by viewing everyday “mundane” scenes as something much more.
Andrea Curiel, AGE 17
Educated
Educated: a reflection of pride and vulnerability. Being a first-generation Mexican–American is a pride that comes with background and resistance. With the political climate we’re in, my identity fortifies my stance on how society views me. Being a First comes with having to learn the system on my own, but there is satisfaction in pursuing an education coming from a family who didn’t have a choice before. I have a choice: to complete, succeed, and bring my family what they deserve.
ABOUT ME
Andrea Curiel is a Mexican–American 17-year-old photographer based in East Los Angeles. Andrea wants to work in journalism with a central focus on social justice or political science, and wants to tell stories of those whose voices often go unheard or are overlooked. Her interests include music, reading, and showing her creativity in various ways like drawing, painting, and crocheting. There is peace that comes with photography and portraying the world around her. She is engaged in meeting new people, especially when they share similar interests to her. She draws inspiration from her community and personal experiences in sharing her views and sentiments.
Esra Nuñez, AGE 16
Untitled: Stonemilker
The stonemilker bends to their labor, hands cupped around a heart gone mineral. They press for nectar that never gathers, coaxing warmth from a partner carved silent. Still, they circle the cold with tender ritual, believing touch might wake some buried pulse. But stone stays stone, unmoved, unyielding, a well with no sweetness to surrender. And yet the milker keeps on, hoping that even solid rock might soften under the persistence of longing.
ABOUT ME
Esra Nuñez is a 16-year-old photographer raised on the outskirts of Downtown L.A. (Silver Lake, Historic Filipinotown, and Echo Park). Raised by two artists, she's always been surrounded by and drawn to photography, music, and art. Her recent work is inspired by Brendon Burton’s ongoing photo series “Thin Spaces.” While being alone is unfavored by most, Esra finds solace in the beauty of the lonesome and her work reflects just this. She captures moments of beauty without an exploitative narrative. Utter cruelty and raw warmth perform a delicate ballet before her lens everyday.
Isa Hernández, AGE 16
Mosaics
This photograph represents the things that helped turn me into the person I am today. I wouldn’t be who I am without the people in my life who sacrificed to give their kids better opportunities. Because of them, I have been blessed with the ability to experience things that they couldn't. Each item in the photo is either brought back from traveling or made by myself. Front and center are the people who sacrificed everything so that I could have everything.
ABOUT ME
Isa Hernández is a 16-year old Nicaraguan and Salvadoran American who had never touched a camera prior to joining Las Fotos Project. Through LFP, she discovered that art is truly in everything you see. She mostly takes pictures of her main art medium, ceramics. She has been very blessed and fortunate to have had opportunities in life. She goes to an all-girls school in La Cañada, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, where she fell in love with ceramics. She loves making food, cooking with her mom, doing ceramics and traveling. One day she hopes to move out of the U.S. to Europe and follow her mom’s footsteps in becoming a chef.
Jazmine Jones, AGE 15
Mano Po
Mano po is a Filipino tradition that has been taught and practiced in my household for many years. Mano po is a gesture of respect to Filipino elders, and it’s when a younger person bows and presses an elder’s hand to their forehead. This happens frequently in my family, like when I see my mother or her father. To me it’s a way of showing how much you appreciate a person in your life, more specifically a highly impactful and respected elder.
ABOUT ME
Jazmine S. Jones is a 16-year-old photographer who is from the heart of Los Angeles, specifically, the heart of little Tokyo. She moved left to right when she was younger and somehow landed in a place that she now feels like she can call home. She is Malaysian and her mom is Filipino, and her dad is Jamaican. Her love of culture heavily impacts the photos she takes, as she always somehow finds a way to connect the things she photographs to her two heritages. Although she is more connected and in touch with Filipinos, she still can connect with and educate herself on her Jamaican culture.
Leila Calderon, AGE 13
Different Perspective
This photograph is of my head and hands, but my mom’s eyes. I chose this picture because I believe that my mom has a reason for saying things that I might not know are even worth thinking about in the moment. Her different and more experienced perspective confuses me, though I might not be able to understand what she was trying to tell me. I appreciate that she’s trying to teach me things that I can use in the future.
ABOUT ME
Leila is a 13-year-old girl born and raised in East L.A., in a Hispanic household. An 8th grader at KIPP LA Prep, she will soon be attending high school next year. She is an artist who enjoys drawing and painting. She was introduced to photography by her older sister's involvement in Las Fotos Project. Inspired by her sister, her artwork captures her family’s traditions, culture, and everyday activities. People who don't really know Leila describe her as quiet and calm, but she's actually a loud, energetic person with the people she’s most comfortable with. She’s passionate and is determined to do what she thinks is right, and won't let anyone tell her what she can and can’t do. Leila loves her confidence and outspoken nature.
Maelie Espinal, AGE 15
espina(L)
My spine has grown with me throughout my life and so have my memories. My spine replicates a timeline of my existence and evocation. Without this remembrance I wouldn’t be who I am to this day. I recollect every so often and am reminded of the life I’ve persevered through and in the end, I now feel fulfilled like a baby with a stomach full of carrots.
ABOUT ME
Maelie Espinal (she/her) is a 15-year-old, first-generation Salvadorean horse girl, born and raised in the crevices of Eagle Rock and Glassell Park. Some activities that Maelie enjoy are wrestling, watercolor, printmaking, and natural dyeing processes. She’s very interested in the music scene of plunderphonics and hardcore punk and it inspires her to have a weird and creative art style that can appear uncommon to others. The majority of her inspiration comes from the essence of horses and family. She’s particularly fascinated by the idea of sisterhood and nostalgia. In espina(L) Maelie plays with the word espina which is part of her last name Espinal.
Miranda Aquino, AGE 18
La criatura / el creador
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein revealed to me the relationship between creator and creation. I am a reflection of my Amá, my creator. Regardless of the differences in our lived experiences growing up, I still see myself becoming a reflection of her. I carry her ways of being through my posture, my gestures, and the softness she portrays. Her habits have slowly become my own, and our kinship has grown as mother and daughter.
ABOUT ME
Miranda Aquino is a first-generation emerging artist and innovator based in Mid-City, Los Angeles. She was introduced to the arts at a young age and has since expanded her practice into different creative mediums. Miranda is inspired by the neighborhoods she was raised in. Through her work, she is dedicated to embodying her Mexican-American culture and the Angeleno traditions she’s inherited, creating projects of self-reflection with a deep understanding of who she is becoming. Miranda aims to continue acknowledging her community by integrating artistic impact and advocacy, while also planning on navigating barriers with unique ideas.
Salma Samano, AGE 17
Alma
In this photo a teenage girl lies down in her bedroom, looking through photos of a life before her, in particular, at photos of her mom. She tries to see beyond the idea she has carried of her mom, Alma, of being just a mother.
ABOUT ME
Salma Samano is a Mexican-American, 17 year-old artist located in South El Monte. Often described as quiet but determined, Salma shares her voice through photography. She captures the world around her through the eyes of a young, ambitious, and growing teenage girl; particularly, exploring themes of friendship, family, and communities that surround her. In a world that seems uncertain, she leans harder on her creative endeavors to help make sense of the world she’s living in. Inspired by Gregg Araki and Richard Kern, Salma plans to pursue a career in cinema and photography, making sure the experiences of herself, her loved ones, and places she walks through don’t go erased.
Sandra Luis Grijalva,
AGE 18
Untitled
Oaxacan traditions and culture are at the center of my family. One thing we look forward to each year is Dia de los Muertos. My nephew and niece, being curious about a culture, began asking more questions about traditions and holidays this year, which led to the creation of this project. It's important for our family to keep our traditions alive through the next generation and on.
ABOUT ME
Sandra Luis Grijalva is a first-gen 18-year-old Latina who began photography when she was 14 years old. She photographs her emotions and expresses herself through the use of color in her work. Photography became storytelling for her, and because of this, she decided to pursue filmmaking at Woodbury University. She wants to be a cinematographer and continue working behind the camera.
Semmia (Mía Leonor
Rovira), AGE 17
Regalos de la vida
The aspects within my life that enrich me exist within the warmth of my home. They are the people who tend to my growth and prepare hot champurrado on cold mornings, who bring me tamalitos de mole or amarillos wrapped in banana leaves, and blow wind into my fire for it to grow. My definition of love is displayed in this arrangement: Small pieces of home that tell you what love means to me.
ABOUT ME
Va'chiose Yogolole! Nede lé Mía Leonor Rovira. (Hello everyone, my name is Mía Leonor Rovira.)
Semmia, otherwise known as Mía Leonor Rovira, is an urban Indigenous photographer who was born and raised in Mid-City, Los Angeles. Guided by her cultural perspective, each photograph she creates aims to preserve the oral histories of the elders and cultural bearers in her community. Semmia began her passion for photography at the age of 11 with AMP Studios and continued to pursue storytelling through visual media at Las Fotos Project. She uses photography as a tool to help her Indigenous Zapotec community feel seen, heard, and valued.
Starla Mendoza, AGE 15
Momentos de generaciónes
In this project, I show the items I hold dear to my heart. My family’s essence is captured in photos or objects that are directly connected to them. Capturing my family is important because telling their story of how they immigrated from El Salvador to L.A. is crucial to my own story. It shapes the person I am today. It is my greatest pride and joy to celebrate them and our heritage through my craft.
ABOUT ME
Starla is a 15-year-old photographer born, raised, and based in Los Angeles. She works to capture the creative outburst that happens in her mind. Her family has always been very artistic with everyone having an interest in varying art forms. Drawing from this inspiration, Starla seeks to channel a careful and true representation of all that she photographs. From capturing emotions through every click of the camera to relishing in the quiet of tranquil moments, Starla adapts to what each space calls for.
Valeria Magallon, AGE 16
Untitled
Gordo is always the heart of my life and art. In this mixed-media artwork, I incorporate the use of a projector to play with scale, visualizing his larger-than-life personality and emphasizing my immense love for him. It is hard to put into words alone the comfort Gordo has given me, more than I’ve ever known. Not only is he my motivation, he’s one of my supporters – he’s constantly giving me inspiration to grow as an artist and a person.
ABOUT ME
Valeria “Val” Magallon (she/her) is a 16-year-old artist from Boyle Heights, Los Angeles. Her passion for directing and cinematography was ignited as a young girl with memories of her directing her own short films, casting household items, toys, and family members to bring her visions to life. A junior attending Bravo Medical Magnet High School, she is currently focused on pursuing a creative career in the film industry, working on short films as part of her art practice. Aside from being a cinephile, Val strives to bring her dreams to reality by connecting with like-minded peers and community through Las Fotos Project. Over the past few years, her technical skills and creative bandwidth has evolved at LFP and beyond. As she looks towards the future, she sees herself going to college to study cinema with a curiosity of directing as a career.
