Novela: 2010

Monday, December 13, 2010

Pearls and flowers

Jose
C-Print
Yuma, Az 2011
I had wanted to photograph jose for quite some time.I was intrigued with his shy demeanor and androgynous physicality … he knew "things" but revealed nothing . When i expressed a intrest to photograph him with his mother, he immediately told me his mother was a curandera "witch" and therefore would not allow anyone to take her picture ,I was secretly pleased with this revelation. Jose eventually agreed to let me take a portrait and told me to meet him at his cousin Crystals house after school that day .

Crystal
C-Print
Yuma, Az 2011
When I arrived at the address Jose gave me , I walked up to a girl with amazing make-up, hoop earring and huge eyes , she was leaning into a truck window talking to this guy in the drivers seat . The truck had two huge L.A.s stickers on the back window . Jose later told me her name was Star . I asked her if Jose was around and she said yes but he went to pick up her sister Crystal from the bus stop and they should be back any minute . I explained who I was and asked if I could look in the back yard for areas to photograph? She said yes but i had to wait while she brought the pitbull into the house . When Star returned she had money in her hand and told me jose would be back soon . She left with money in her hand and the guy in the red truck with two huge L.A.s stuck on the back window .

Jose and Star
C-Print
Yuma, Az 2011
Finally jose arrived with his cousin crystal …to my delight she was a younger, tougher version of Star wearing a school uniform and penciled in eybrows . I had recognized the emblem on the school uniform from a alternative high school .Jose informed me that I could take Crystals picture as well . I was thrilled !

Untitled
C-Print
Yuma,Az 2011
Later as we photographed in the backyard with no grass , Star arrived and began arguing with her younger sister who was watching me ,Jose and Crystal take pictures...Jose later informed me that Star and Crystal were "pissed" because the girls mother had left to the city to bring thier grandmother back to live with them . Star kept saying "Its me or her" "Its me or her" meaning her grandmother . These girls were tough like pearls . During the enite shoot I could hear the crying of Crystals baby and Stars chanting "Its me or her" "I am out of here" "I am out of here"

Crystal and Jose on the side of the House
C-Print
2011
jmedina

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

untitled

Jason
C-Print
July 2010

Dressing Room
C-Print
July 2010

Martin
C-Print
July 2010

No Mans Land

Arizona-Mexico Border
Yuma,AZ
August 2010
C-Print

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Werner Herzog on Human Nature & Monsters ...

Sunday, November 21, 2010

No Mans Land

Arizona-Mexico Border
Yuma, Az
C-Print
Sept 2010

Pearls and Flowers

Austin
C-Print
Oct 2010
Yuma,Az

Thursday, October 28, 2010

The River

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Flowers and Pearls

Caleb
Yuma, Az
November 2010
C-Print

Saturday, August 7, 2010

The River

Digital Test Prints

He was floating in the river . She told me when they pulled him out his shirt was off and all he was wearing was a bra and jeans . His jean had been unbuttoned . She said she could see stubble on his face.

First he started punching him and then threw him down in the dirt , then began beating him with a bat . She told me when she went to the river the next day she saw marks in the dirt , she said it look liked he was trying to get away . She said it looked like " he was clawing or digging in the dirt" .

She told me he took out his knife and began slashing and stabing him . "He stabbed him 31 times". She said when she went to the river the next day "There was blood all over the place" . The stab to his heart is what killed him .

He bragged about it at a house party , She said "He went around telling everbody at that party" "and everybody at that party kept it a secret for two years" .

Thursday, August 5, 2010

The River

Wig Shop (digital test print)
Yuma, Az August 2010

The culvert (Digital test print)
Yuma, Az August 2010

Before she left , she said she saw him with another guy in the gravel parking lot, behind the bar . The guy was leaning against a chain link fence with his hands behind his head. She said the guy was posing and Amancio was watching .

Thursday, July 15, 2010

The River

Test Print
Yuma,Az August 2010

Digital Test Print
Yuma, Az August 2010

In August 2004 I relocated from Los Angeles and accepted a teaching job in a small Arizona border community . This area is known as one of the driest and hottest in the US . I accepted this position to get away from the drama , isolation and disconnectedness of the big city .

A year later . Amancio Corrales a 23 year old man was found brutallty murdered and floating in a culvert connected to the Colorado River a mile from the high school I teach at . He died from what has been publicly described by authorities as "Violent Trauma" . I have begun talking to people and photographing sites that make up this day . As time and money permit I will add images and text describing the day this event occured .