I want to live in America
2008

My work explores the impact of mass media on cultural perception and stereotyping. Drawing from moments ingrained in my memory as a spectator of visual media, I engage with instantly recognizable imagery to examine how society constructs its beliefs about itself and others. By employing cinematic techniques, I reconstruct images of current events, stripping them of their original media-driven narrative to create new, ambiguous readings.

Influenced by the omnipresence of U.S. visual culture in Latin America, I investigate how stereotypes shape cultural understanding. Stereotypes rely on exaggerated, surface-level attributes that simplify complex identities. I amplify these visual cues to provoke immediate recognition, only to disrupt expectations by introducing inconsistencies and substitutions. This intentional manipulation challenges the viewer’s assumptions, creating moments of tension and uncertainty that expose the constructed nature of these representations.

Through my work, I aim to reveal the superficiality of media-driven imagery and its role in reinforcing prejudice. By deconstructing and reconfiguring familiar visual codes, I encourage a critical engagement with the ways in which visual culture shapes—and distorts—our perceptions of identity and belonging.