Trenzas (2024) is a three part photographic series featuring my friends (Sarahi Jimenez, Karina Guido, and Vanessa Guido) from the Central Valley braiding their hair. This work is rooted in themes of sisterhood, girlhood, and friendship, while also honoring my ancestors. Inspired by a black and white photograph of my late grandmother, I reflect on how the tradition of braiding has been passed down across generations. For me, braids recall my own childhood, when my sister would do my hair before school, an act of care, intimacy, and connection. Although my relationship with my sister has since changed, braided hair continues to embody memory, togetherness, and the endurance of our cultural traditions. In this work, braids are more than adornment; they are a living archive of our past relationships and a tribute to Mexican American heritage. By centering women from the Central Valley, I highlight the duality Chicana women face occupying two cultures, yet often not fully accepted by either. This series creates a space of belonging, where identity and agency are affirmed.

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Taking Up Space (2024) is a large scale photo collage installation featuring Sarahi Jimenez, Karina Gudino, and Vanessa Gudino. The composition fills the frame with repeated images of their backs, their long braided hair cascading down. This repetition asserts their presence unapologetically, symbolizing strength, resilience, and the power of occupying space as Mexican American women. The piece draws inspiration from the magazines I grew up with as a young girl, where I rarely saw women who looked like me or my friends. Instead, white women dominated the covers. By enlarging the presence of my friends, this work challenges those exclusions and insists that Chicana women deserve visibility.

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Both works serve as a tribute to our identity and a reminder to young Latinas that they, too, can and must take up space, especially in places where they have historically been unseen or unwelcome. Through braids and through scale, I honor our Mexican and Indigenous heritage, the bonds of friendship, and our shared resilience. These works declare: we belong. By filling the canvas with our presence, I seek to counter erasure and ensure that our stories endure not as distant memories, but as a living, evolving testament to who we are.