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 work to honor my parents’ journey immigrating to the U.S. from Mexico in the 1980s and the life they’ve built since. Told through a chronological structure, the book reflects the shifting nature of memory—how it fades, resurfaces, and transforms over time.

The title, “Por Vida y Para Siempre” (“For Life and Forever”), carries special meaning. It’s a phrase my parents have said to each other and signed letters off with since they first began dating, and what has since become the anchor of this project.

Alongside the book, I digitized dozens of our family’s camcorder tapes and edited a short accompanying film, bringing movement and sound to the still moments that are preserved in print.

In dedication to mis seres queridos, and to those we’ve loved and lost.