Mother, Do You Hear Me?

Mother, Do You Hear Me? explores identity, family, and the complexities of mother-daughter relationships through documentary photography, family archives, handwritten text, and material interventions. What does it mean to be sovereign?

Mother, Do You Hear Me? is an ongoing documentary photography project where I revisit my relationship with my mother as an eldest daughter to confront tensions that have built throughout my adult life. What began as a story about reconnecting with my Puerto Rican roots slowly shifted into a more intimate exploration of identity, family, and how we carry each other.

My mother had me at sixteen, and I grew up as the eldest daughter of a single mother in the South Bronx. Eldest daughters often carry the emotional weight of their families, mediating tensions and trying to keep the peace. As I’ve grown into myself as a woman, I’ve begun questioning how these roles have shaped my identity and my relationship with my mother.

Since the beginning of 2026, I’ve frequently returned to my childhood home to photograph my mother, my sisters, and myself. My mother has been a close collaborator, helping me work through my vision and even pressing the shutter when I couldn’t. Many of these photographs weren’t originally intended for this project. They emerged from following the threads of family, memory, and grief until their connection became apparent.

My mother also gave me access to our family photo albums, where I gravitated toward photographs of us when I was younger. Drawn to a time that felt simpler, I began drawing a red thread onto these images, connecting us across the frame. As the thread becomes increasingly tangled, it reflects the complexity of our connection.

I also revisited my personal journal from 2025 to the present, highlighting passages about my relationship with my mother. By incorporating my own handwritten words into the work, I offer a glimpse into the questions and thoughts that surfaced throughout this process.

For the text-based images, I scanned the white lace fabric I use on my ancestral altar at home, bringing the spiritual guidance that has accompanied me throughout this healing journey into the work. Each element holds its own meaning: red represents bloodline, blue represents the emotional realm, and lace represents spirit. Together, these materials explore the intersections of family, memory, emotion, and ancestry.

Mother, Do You Hear Me? is an exploration of what it means to love someone deeply while learning to exist outside of them. I am learning to untangle the knots of our connection and recognize where she ends and I begin. In many ways, I have found myself in an accidental prison, not chained by metal but by something life-giving, like foliage. I am trying to understand how something that has nurtured me can also make it difficult to grow beyond it.