Buttons for Eyes

In my work I have always strived to understand the formation and erasure of identity that is an inevitable part of the migrant experience, exploring the resulting fragmentation of family, identity, and culture. Though intensely personal in some ways, Buttons for Eyes looks outward by documenting a story of migration and cultural hybridization that has particular resonance in a political climate marked by anti-immigrant rhetoric. It does so by mining an archive of family heirlooms, artworks, photographs, and other documents, even as it creates new images – new documents – which become part of that collection.

When I was a child, my inability to ever find anything, even objects right in front of me, led to my mother’s playful question, “Do you have eyes or buttons for eyes?”. Intended as lighthearted criticism, her question summarized my inability to see, look, observe, find. Buttons for Eyes is my response to her playful yet nuanced question. A question laced with parental fear; if you can’t see, look, observe, find then how will you successfully navigate the world? Now I see the world from my adopted home in the United States, and from within an environment of heightened anti-immigrant rhetoric which has altered the context in which migrant voices like mine are heard. Using the photographic lens, I strive to understand the formation and erasure of identity that is an inevitable part of the migrant experience by providing a much-needed personal perspective on the resulting fragmentation of family, identity, and culture.