About

Por Vida y Para Siempre is an archival-style photobook and deeply personal project that weaves together family photos, scanned letters, and keepsakes into a visual narrative of memory, identity, and nostalgia. As a first-generation Mexican-American, I created this book to honor my parents’ journey immigrating to the U.S. from Mexico in the 1980s and the life they’ve built since. I’ve always been fascinated by the way memories fade, resurface, and transform over time, and I sought to capture that shifting beauty through a chronological storytelling approach. Rather than allowing these cherished pieces of my family’s history to remain tucked away in boxes, I brought them together through design to preserve them.

The title, “Por Vida y Para Siempre” (“For Life and Forever”), carries special significance. It’s a phrase my parents have said to each other and signed letters off with since they first started dating. These words are what started it all, and I found that it felt like the truest way to anchor this book and honor the foundation it created for our family’s story.

In dedication to my family, and to those who we’ve loved and lost.