Casa de Remesas

Casa de Remesas began during my time as an undergraduate. Since then, this project has evolved into an ongoing diary documenting my family, objects, and spaces that hold memories and are in dialogue with the past and present. I was heavily inspired by my family albums, abuela Chuy, and my Ma had put together over decades.

When flipping through these albums and studying my family's past, I try to understand why things unfolded the way they did, and what can be as I leave my mark in this story. This created many questions that I am still dealing with. What my relationship with faith and religion is, my role as son and a brother, what fatherhood is and could be, and what patterns I will carry.

Memory plays a significant role in Casa de Remesas. Part of my research began by studying Marianne Hirsch’s concept of 'postmemory,' which describes how the generation after carries the personal, collective, and cultural trauma from their lineage by the act of remembering through the use of images and stories, adopting these memories as their own as a way of healing and understanding. Looking at my family photographs became a sort of puzzle where I would try to put together this story while actively seeking more pieces through conversations with my parents and grandmother. I feel that the earlier images in this body of work feel both intimate and distant. There is a sense of concealing, as I knew very little of my family, while slowly revealing itself as my understanding of the past grows over time.

Cervantes was chosen by our Community Manager and Program Curator to participate in one of our Face-to-Face portfolio feedback sessions with our Guest Room Curator Jo. Trujillo Argüelles.

"My Face-to-Face session with Jo. was very reassuring. We were able to address some of the lingering questions I had about my work and helped me find clarity by identifying the strengths and what is in need of balance and expansion."

- Cervantes' testimonial on his “Face-to-Face” Session