Johnathan Morales
Pretty Morning to Start Over
I Look Terrible: Why Am I Wearing Gloves?
Bubbles and the Master Maker
The Spy
Beauty and the Sleeping Princess
A House and Nothing Else
Cowboy Realizing
Tea Party
The Smart Child in the Magical Forest
Ninja Disguised As White
The Terrible Night
Kitchen Fun
Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue, the Love You Get Is Always With You
Blue Jacket and a Way To Escape With White
Two years ago at an obscure Long Island restaurant, I was introduced to a sister I didn’t know I had. At four years old she was relocated from South America to the United States to live with my father; she spoke no English and I spoke very little Spanish, hindering our ability to communicate. I found myself struggling to connect with her. As my longing to understand her and the situation I had found myself in overwhelmed me, I turned to photography as a way to regain control and to make sense of this new person in my life. The project began with anger and contempt unjustly placed at times on my sister who bore the fault of another’s offense. However it soon evolved into so much more.
This body of work as it exists in its current state has been a fortuitous collaboration between my sister and I because of her ability to quickly pick up the English language; it allowed us to communicate in a way we didn’t have the luxury of doing so before. Understanding my sister’s identity and what is shaping how she views herself in these formative years of her life became an important point of discussion for me and how I would continue to photograph her. Through her objects, color and role-play, I attempt to document and conceive of my sister’s identity in relation to her surroundings. Themes such as gender conformities, cultural and familial dynamics as well as notions of the ‘home’ come to embody the work as my sister exists in her sphere of childhood ignorance. As I yearn for my sister to stay in her youthful bliss I ask myself, will my sister follow down the path prescribed to her or will she be free to forge her own existence unencumbered by cultural and familial constraints?
