When my parents went to work, I used the afternoons alone to start making more dolls. I once spent an entire semester modifying an Ecto-1, the car from the Ghostbusters. In that era, the Fast and Furious remained a popular series, so I burned the wheel axles enough to bring the chassis closer to the ground.
Latin America
We sat in the mud, on a plastic sheet where the baby was going to be born. With no help other than the old rags that we carried, I tried my best to deliver her baby in the middle of a jungle.
As things become worse year after year, I feel exhausted. We beg to be listened to; for authorities to exert more control over the fishing industry. Frustration lives inside of me every day as we feel neglected and abandoned, facing this endless problem on our own.
I noticed my fast heartbeat. My body shivered out of excitement. Not wanting to waste any time, I quickly started to unearth the fossils with my team. The more we dug, important parts began to emerge. It became a moment of great sentiment for everyone. I felt euphoric and could not hold back my anxiety. I wanted to find all of the bones.
The first time I entered the cabin of an airplane I was seven years old. It felt like going to an amusement park I always wanted to visit. There I stood, living my dream. I knew then and there, I wanted to spend my life there. I felt amazed by the action taking place before, during, and after takeoff. Seeing the entire team carry out a flight, I decided to become a pilot.
When the video ended, I went onstage and put down my crutches. I danced a choreographed routine we prepared in record time. My movements harmonized with the music. Throughout the performance, I kept my balance, dancing on one leg. The audience could not believe their eyes.
As the days passed after that first batch of cookies sold, the orders from the community grew. Our barbecue area became a production line. In time, when the Pandemic ended, we put together a work team. We purchased equipment and formalized the project.
With a childhood coded by the corporeal culture I experienced, I held back. I avoided gestures and actions that felt natural to me. I constantly confronted my body, telling me what to do, and replied, “No, don’t tease yourself. It cannot feel like that.”
Looking into someone's eyes makes me uneasy, and there is a reason. One day, I told my mom, “If I look into your eyes, I spend a lot of energy. I don't want to do it; I hear you but I can't look at you.”
I still remember my 20-year-old self – carefree and simple. I never used makeup. I wasn't one of those girls who experimented with her mother's eyeshadows and lipstick. A college assignment led me to YouTube and when I saw a makeup tutorial video for the first time, I became excited to discover something new.
When I put on my first vintage suit, bought at an American fair, I felt whole. Even though it was too big, I looked in the mirror and thought, "This is me. I have always been this."
Amongst the threats, they left notes and an ominous suitcase, and they bugged our phones. It felt like an intravenous terror that ran through me and into my dreams. My mother often reminded us, "It is better to be visible than invisible."
When I see a huge wall, I want to paint it. The urge to paint helps me overcome the fear of hanging so high. I put on relaxing music to calm my nerves, think about safety protocols, and then I paint.
José Francisco Ramos, 23, starts his day as a curilero at dawn to avoid the unbearable sun and the mosquitos, which get more aggressive as the day goes on.
When I play the violin, joy overwhelms my entire being. It's a reason for celebration, whether I play for an audience or just myself. I like to share what I learn with others, since it takes great effort to achieve.
After their team won the 2022 World Cup championship in Qatar, city streets all over Argentina erupted in wild and joyful celebration. More than a million soccer fans descended on the city center in Buenos Aires.
Today, I prepare for my next competition in Mallorca in 2023. I train daily playing with friends and try to keep it fun. When they ask me how long I will do this, I say, “As long as my body allows it.” I do not think about my age, and it causes no impediment. In fact, it helps me.
Faced with an onslaught of violence, my fear turned into terror. We did not struggle or become confrontational. Throughout the ordeal, we remained calm, trying to get through this nightmare the best way we could.
It all started with a private message I received on Instagram on September 14th while buying meat at the butcher’s shop. The Argentine Football Association wrote to me asking me to provide a budget to take my grills to the World Cup.
When I first saw Azai in a photo someone sent me on WhatsApp, the small, white dog looked sick and had a swollen face. He must have been about eight months old. I did not intend to rescue Azai because we had little space left, but after seeing his photo I could not refuse.
Laguna El Jocotal sits at the foot of a volcano. It boasts a hot tropical climate and hosts hundreds of plants, fish, birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles.
This particular set of photographs captures the Beaver Blood Moon lunar eclipse. The moon moved into the shadows of Earth, receiving only light filtered by Earth’s atmosphere, causing the red color.
Agustín took in an indigenous kid from a remote community and immersed me in a magical world full of music. Looking back, I consider my blindness an accident for which I am deeply grateful. I cannot drive a car, but I can awaken emotions in people’s hearts through music. I can take a seashell, submerged under the sea for perhaps thousands of years, and make it vibrate.
It never rains in September in Colombia, but that year, the rain poured down after we hung the fabrics. Water poured out of the sky. I could hear and smell the rain falling against the ground and on our beloved fabrics. My dear colleague Carmen Julia from Ecuador said, “Don’t worry, the rain represents the tears of disappeared people. Their memory is speaking to us.”