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Thursday, January 28, 2021
GO! magazine — A&E in Northeast Oregon
Documentation:
The photography of Berenice Chavez
By Lisa Britton
LA GRANDE — Berenice
Chavez photographs her mother to
preserve her memories, always a
bit worried that one day her mom
will be sent back to Mexico.
“It’s an insight into a life most
people don’t have. A lot of kids don’t
have to translate for their parents
at the Immigration Center,” Chavez
said.
Chavez earned an art degree
from Eastern Oregon University
in 2019, and a second degree in
anthropology in 2020.
On Feb. 5, she will open a show
titled “Documentation” at Art Cen-
ter East, 1006 Penn St.
Chavez’s collection of large-scale
photographs featuring her mother
and little sister will be on display
through March 27.
She began photographing her
family in 2018 when her mother
faced deportation to Mexico for the
third time.
“It was instant panic,” she recalls
of receiving the news from her
older sister. “That’s why I take all
these photos. It’s never guaranteed.
I just wanted these photographs for
myself in case she was deported in
three months — or three weeks.”
Chavez works in fi lm. She uses
her 35 mm Canon for candid shots
of her mother cooking, doing laun-
dry, or sitting with her father.
Her 4x5 large format camera is
reserved for portraits.
“I love how slow the process
is — really taking the time,” she
said. “It’s more intimate, and in the
moment.”
She displayed several of her
family photographs in her senior
exhibition.
The ACE show will feature a
larger array of her photographs,
each measuring about 3 feet by 4
Chavez exhibit
When: Feb. 5 - March 27
Where: Art Center East, 1006
Penn Ave., La Grande
feet.
Chavez hasn’t always been into
photography or art.
“I never considered myself an
artist at all,” she said.
During her senior year of high
school in Umatilla, she developed
an interest in pursuing photojour-
nalism as a career.
“How fun would that be to photo-
graph people and places?” she said.
Her “Documentation” project re-
fl ects this approach, with her mom
as the main subject.
“All the images tell my family’s
story,” she said.
Although she works in fi lm, she
scans the negatives and edits her
photographs in Photoshop.
“As I edited the photos, it was a
way of spending more time with
her,” she said.
Her show tells the story of
undocumented immigrants by
Photo by Berenice Chavez
Chavez photographs her mother
in everyday situations.
“documenting” her mother’s daily
life in the United States.
“Undocumented immigrants
must live hidden in the shadows,
but my mother’s legal situation al-
lows me to bring my family’s story
into the public eye,” Chavez wrote
in her artist’s statement. “My work
questions what it means to be an
American — legal status versus
the amount of time spent living
in the country you call home. For
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LA GRANDE
Photo by Berenice Chavez
Chavez’s little sister is often a subject in her photographs.
me, these photographs take the
place of the legal citizenship that
my mother does not have. They are
proof that she belongs.”
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