Anna Montoya (Class of 2013), Hope CommUnity Center (2010);
Digital Print on Matte, 9x6 on 8.5x11
Artist Statement
The story of a place is twofold: it starts with the actual landscape and is kept alive by the people that reside there. Apopka, Florida is an area that hosts a significant number of farm worker and immigrant families, most of whom live in historically and economically underserved conditions. At the center of this neighborhood is the Hope CommnUnity Center, which works continually to meet the needs of this marginalized population. Built upon a foundation of advocacy, education, and economic development, Hope CommUnity has touched the lives of many of the people who call Apopka their home.
Throughout this series of photos, I will be taking a look at some of the social, political and cultural issues affecting this group of people. Often times these types of discussions are reserved for scholars and corporate media outlets, however I have flipped this existing paradigm by working together with the members of this community to create a final collaborative project which allows them to control how they are being seen by the outside world, which can be very empowering.
The dynamic interactions that can be seen within and between the individual photos, between people and place connected through past into the present, weave together into an account that speaks to the greater message of community. Wherein somewhere in the process of taking their photos I had become part of it.
I focus on the juxtaposition of new and found photos, and the use of text to create momentum for change. In one of the photos, a young girl is holding a sign that reads “tenemos un sueno,” translated literally as "we have a dream". Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
These photos are a message of hope.
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