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(unfinished)

Dirty Chais and Nutella Croissants: A Sunday Afternoon with MoreMulher.  

Sitting in the last cart of a South Ferry bound one train, making my way back down from the Bronx into Harlem, I can't not help but to feel a sense of elation. Although the smell of piss runs pungent across the cart and I most likely won't be moving from the cart either - cause to be frank, any true New Yorker is used to the smell. The reason for this feeling - MoreMulher. Behind the name are Bronx based photographers Stephanie Ayala and Laura Ciriaco. Being a follower of their work and what they do for quite some time now it is safe to say that my inner self was sitting on cloud nine. The subject of what they shoot is as their name entails - More, meaning well more and Mulher being the Portuguese word for "women". Coming together to be "more woman" which if we are all being honest is never necessarily a bad thing.

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Having had the MTA gods on my side earlier that day, I had arrived at Mon Amour Cafe, a little coffee shop located right off the uptown one line on 238th Street. Shortly after I had arrived and was settled in came in Stephanie. Introducing ourselves to one another we sat to wait for Laura and got to know one another. Drawn to the title of the book I was carrying about race in Latin America, we began conversing on the topic with Stephanie mentioning how often many find themselves blindly prideful in their roots without fully knowing their history. From this we jump around in topics, having smaller sub conversations about gentrification and the differences in coffee drinks, to high school and college processes, to how she stumbled upon watching her first birthing video and the intimacy of motherhood. 

 Still nervous that my questions wouldn't be up to par with their standards I jump around starting as Laura arrived and settled in. As she does, she briefly talks to Stephanie about a shoot for her job she did the other day and how it was not anything related to how they shoot with their models. “It’s a 30-minute shoot… they expect you to get all the shots you need, that doesn’t give me enough time to get to know my model.” Stephanie chimes in agreeing how if need be, she is willing to reshoot a whole shoot if it does not reach her standards, stating she wants to be able to do her model justice. With Laura agreeing with Stephanie, I muster up the courage to ask my first question since it falls along the subject of models. “How do you find the models that you do? From what I know many contact you if they want to shoot or you contact them. Or is it a mix of both?”

           “It’s a mix of both,” says Laura as Stephanie nods adding in that she at times “feels intimidated” by the women she shoots. Discussing between one another, they go over how for many of their models it’s usually their first-time shooting. “It’s not just about the photographer…” answers Stephanie, “it’s about them too. I want to be able to execute my ideas, but to the model’s standards and expectations. You learn from the shoot, if it doesn’t go as planned, reshoot. I have a model that because our first shoot didn’t go as we had both hoped, I’m going to try again with her.” Laura also adds in at how they aim to make their shoots a comfortable experience for both parties involved. We then all begin to discuss how male Instagram photographers often photograph women in scene that just did not look like a pleasant experience for the woman involved at all. “That’s why we shoot women. We want them to know that they can say no to creepy dude photographers who make them do weird shit” says Laura. Agreeing with Laura, Stephanie adds that “they do it because they think that’s what’s going to bring them fame.”

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Bronx Latinidad / La Mujeres del Bronx

Bronx natives are redefining womanhood through the arts. The young woman featured are using the advantages of the digital age to break the mold of what is known and has been followed by women for ages. Breaking from this, these young women are bringing about an edgier and unfiltered image of a 21st Century woman.

Having all been born and raised in similar cultural backgrounds, artists MoreMulher, Uzumaki Cepeda and Monica Hernandez are prominent figures in the Bronx’s young but loud art movement. The works of these artists are heavily influenced from an outlook on life that could be seen as a results from the experiences of being a Dominican/Afro-Domincan woman living in the Bronx. By photographing women these artists focus on producing images that are not meant to be idealized by the male gaze, but more so for the average woman. They are taken for women by women. These images are then for woman to see and feel a sense of security and comfort in themselves after having seen such diversity caught with a lens. By capturing this diversity and putting it on the forefront it creates a dialogue that picks apart at the traditional image of woman and until it is something new and fresh and uniquely their own. 

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48 x 60 in // M.Y.O.B 🗝

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NEW YEARS EVE SELF PORTRAIT // Cherry

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Des

photos/edits by me 

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learning from mistakes 

Model: Angie 

Photographed by: Cherry

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Lil pootie ♥️

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Build & destroy room . @robertgallardo on the promethazine piñata 💎

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Channeling my ancestors 📸: @ericaweitz 💎

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So in my instillation we did a performance piece where all of us slept. The reaction was pretty interesting. Some people were laughing , some were mad , some thought we were wax figures . Overall it was weird perspective, letting people examine ur lifeless body lol 📸: @tanboyturi