Creating a Sense of Belonging
Inserting herself into the frame. From her photo series, “No Vivo de Recuerdos,” by Arecis Tiburcio Zane.
“I remember when I was younger my mom and I would sit down on the living room floor and rummage through boxes of family pictures. We looked for portraits of my grandparents and other family members who lived far from us. I liked to ask questions about who everyone was... My mom always responded with “no sé Arecis. No vivo de recuerdos.”
Arecis Tiburcio Zane with her mother, from her photo series, “No Vivo de Recuerdos.”
Arecis Tiburcio Zane worked on the mural Cosmic Wings of Change at Louis Brandeis High School Campus during the summer of 2017 as a Creative Art Works Youth Apprentice. Four years later, she is about to turn 22, and is studying photography at St. John's University. Much of her work is informed by her experience growing up as the daughter of immigrants in Harlem. Her photographs explore themes of family intimacy and separation as well as minority inclusion. You can see more works by Arecis on her Instagram account. We were thrilled to catch up with Arecis over Zoom earlier this week.
CAW: Do you consider yourself an artist?
Arecis: Yes, I do. I'm a photographer, but I'm also an artist. It might sound a bit strange saying that, because photography is so accessible nowadays. Anyone with a phone could be a photographer. But, despite that, I would still consider myself an artist because the ideas that I photograph make me more distinct than your average cell phone user.
Arecis as a CAW 2017 Summer Youth Apprentice
CAW: How did joining Creative Art Works influence your interest in art?
Arecis: I’ve been doing art for quite a while. I went to an arts camp called Apple Farm, in New Jersey, when I was younger. And then I went to LaGuardia High School, which specializes in art. And I studied photography for a year at the International Center for Photography. But despite all that, I didn't really consider myself an artist. But then I joined Creative Art Works during the summer when I was a rising senior. That was my first real job experience – waking up every morning, heading to the workplace. And it was exciting, especially because I was doing something I was so passionate about. That made me actually think, “Yeah, I think I'm an artist. I think I want to do something with this in the future.”
CAW: Do you keep in touch with any of the people you worked with that summer?
Arecis: I made tons of friends. A lot of them live in my neighborhood, or we’ve kept in touch online. Some of the people I worked with were only 14, and I was 17 that summer. And now I’m seeing them grow up and go to college, and it’s like, “Whoa! What? Time is such a crazy concept!” I love to see that they're still as creative as they were before.
CAW: Did you feel like joining that mural project gave you a sense of belonging? Did you feel like you found your people?
Arecis: I think so. Making a mural is a community thing. It involves the people who commission the mural, your coworkers, the neighborhood. So just by nature, you create this community without really thinking about it. It highlighted how important community is and how that influences how we create art.
CAW: A lot of your academic work involves minority inclusion in the arts and on campus. What’s it like it being in the minority at St. John's?
Arecis: It's actually quite a diverse school. In my program, about half the students are minorities, but there's only four of us in my program. But when I take classes with other majors, it might not be as diverse. Recently, I had a critique for a small book project called, On Sunday. It was about the passing of my grandparents and it was very, very personal; so, it was very difficult also to talk about it with a group of people who I didn't really know. I was very, very nervous to present it because of how personal it is. And everyone was just so understanding. It was like, “We're here with you, we love your work, and we're excited to see more. It felt like they felt my grief as well. It made me feel like I belonged, like I wasn't a stranger presenting this very vulnerable project. So, that was a great experience.
CAW: Who are some of the most important people in your life, and why?
Wearing the same clothes. Arecis with her mother, from her photo series, “No Vivo de Recuerdos.”
Arecis: I’m definitely grateful for my family. They’ve helped me navigate so much in my life. Also, I attended a year at the International Center of Photography for Creative Practices, where I had a professor, Allen Frame, who helped me figure out what I'm interested in photographing and documenting. Asking yourself “Why am I doing this?” is very necessary when you're making art that's very personal but that you hope will make people rethink how they approach life.
CAW: Could you talk to us about your connection to your family and how that works into your art?
Arecis: My most recent project is titled No Vivo de Recuerdos, which roughly translates to “I don't live off memories.” It’s a phrase that my mom says whenever I ask her about our family lineage. My mom left her family at 21 to come to a whole different country, so sometimes it’s a very sensitive topic. And so that's how this project started – with me asking questions and really sitting in this uncomfortable space with my mom so that we could figure out what's going on with our family and help each other. I began questioning what my role is in my family and how that role is always changing. People are born; people pass on – these things affect the relationship in a family dynamic. It's like a chain reaction. For example, sometimes I'm almost like a mother figure to my younger brother. Sometimes my younger brother is like a parental figure. Sometimes my mother is my child. Everything is always fluctuating, and that's what I think is beautiful about family.
CAW: Has this process of questioning gotten less awkward now that you've been doing it for a while?
Arecis: When I first started this project, it was very difficult to get my mom to sit down with me in front of the camera, because she would always start laughing. That wasn’t the vibe I was going for. So, I wondered what would happen if I just take pictures when she’s not looking? And that's how I came up with the idea of making digital collages as a way of bringing together family. I think my mom is more comfortable with talking about family now. We've created this intimacy that I think not only helped our relationship as mother and daughter, but also my relationship with photographing people in general.
CAW: What are some of the ways you feel like your mom's experience echoes through you as her daughter?
Arecis: The way she's influenced me the most is by having a different life path. My mom will say things like, "When I was your age, I was pregnant with you." So now we're in this weird stage where she is seeing herself through me and trying to reconcile that difference. This is not to say that I don't want to be anything like my mother, but there's just some things that she had to experience that she hopes I won’t have to. I think that has definitely influenced me to be more compassionate and to really think about others and how I can hopefully help them.
Arecis clipping her brother’s nails, from her photo series, “No Vivo de Recuerdos.”
CAW: Could you tell me about some of your favorite photos that you've ever taken?
Arecis: I have a couple. I think one of my favorite photos is of me cutting my brother's fingernails. There's just something about the way he's looking at the camera. I hadn't intended on taking this picture at all. I had just finished a Zoom class when I turned around, and he was in my room on my bed. I said, "What are you doing here? Go to your own room. This is my space." He just looked at me, but then I was like, "You're in this perfect pose. It's very you." And then I just had this feeling I had of love towards my brother. And I said, "You know what? I'm going to make this a picture." And then he was like, "No! No! I don't want a picture right now. Can you cut my nails first and then we could take the picture?” And I just love it because it perfectly shows the relationship and how much I love my brother and how he feels comfortable with me because he allowed me to take this picture.
Arecis and her mom, from her photo series, “No Vivo de Recuerdos.”
CAW: He allows you to cut his nails – that's an incredibly intimate interaction. It’s reminiscent of the French artist Pierre Bonnard, who painted very intimate domestic scenes and often inserted himself in his work in an indirect way. You might see his reflection in a mirror or the end of his paintbrush sticking into the frame. But you are literally inserting yourself into your photos.
Arecis: Thank you for that comparison! There’s actually a picture that I really like where I’m looking back at my mom from inside a mirror. We're wearing the same clothing and she's on her phone. It’s a composite photo – I inserted myself after the fact. I really like that photo especially because I'm wearing her actual clothes. It becomes a performance piece that I really appreciate. I guess I’m just saying how much I admire my mom.
CAW: What do you hope to do when you graduate from St. John's?
Arecis: I've always really been interested in pursuing a career in arts education. Any form of community building really interests me. And if not that, I'd also really love to work as a photo editor. A lot of my work relies heavily on Photoshop – I make a lot of digital composites and I often insert myself into an image – so I feel like I’ve mastered it to a point where it could be a good career option.
“I love this photo of my mom exfoliating my dad’s back. I think it shows how comfortable they’ve become with me photographing them, because my dad is obviously naked. They’ve accepted that photography is what I do. It makes me feel like an actual artist.”