Sendaros/Paths, 2017
La vida como los ecosistemas, está llena de veredas. Senderos que en ocasiones se tornan cuesta arriba, tan empinados que parece imposible llegar a la cima, y tan profundos, cuando son barrancos, que nos hacen creer que si caemos, jamás podremos levantarnos. Esas veredas que de día nos muestran la magia de la naturaleza, en la oscuridad de la noche, nos muestran nuestros miedos.
Laderas que nos permiten caminar al filo de una decisión transcendental, como la migración. Migrar es una hazaña que nos transforma de por vida. En la que perdemos y ganamos, y en la que nunca dejamos de aprender. Somos nómadas que transitamos entre la diáspora y la nostalgia de los desarraigos. A veces creemos tomar senderos sin retorno que en la distancia se convierten en un eterno vaivén.
Life, like ecosystems, is full of paths. Paths that occasionally become an uphill climb—so steep that reaching the top seems impossible, so deep that they are canyons—make us believe that if we fall we may never get up. Those paths that by day reveal the magic of nature, in the dark of night reveal our fears.
Migration walks us to the edge of a transcendent decision. Migration is an experience that transforms us forever, one in which we win and lose, but we never stop learning. We are nomads that walk between the diaspora and nostalgia, always uprooted. Sometimes we believe we are on a path of no return but, over time, we realize it is a path eternally shifting us back and forth.
In the online exhibit Picturing a New Life in Chicago, people who were forced to flee their home countries because of war, persecution or violence share photos and inspiring stories about adjusting to a new life here. Some of the photographers came to Chicago through a refugee resettlement program. Others sought political asylum. Learn more in Online Exhibit: Forced Migration Photovoice Project.
