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medellin, colombia

This body of work is dedicated to my sweet grandma, Apita, who is at the center of my love for Medellín. 

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My first home is Miami, Florida, where I was born and raised. My second home is Medellin, Colombia, where my parents are from and where my family lives. My parents moved to Miami from Medellin a few years before I was born. I spent the first few months of my life in Medellín, and constantly visited in the years that followed. The four of us–my dad, mom, brother, and I– would always stay at my grandma’s two-bedroom sweet apartment in El Poblado. She would take the guest room, my parents her room, and my brother and me on the couch. We would sleep with the windows wide open (since there is no AC) to allow the cool breeze to swirl the room. What’s so wonderful about Medellin is how excessively kind it is. You ask for something, and an additional kindness is lovingly given. Medellin’s night kindly hushes the buzzing city’s honking motorcycles and invites the chirping crickets to fill the darkness with their song. Such soothing sounds would gently ride the cool breeze, filling our living room, lulling us into a perfect sleep. 

 

Apita loves when we visit. She adores taking care of us. Every morning and night, Apita would always make and unmake the couch into our bed, even as we got older and were capable of doing so ourselves. She would always offer desayunos y almuerzos caseritos (home-cooked simple breakfasts and lunches), as well as always stocking up on our favorite snacks (Choclitos and Papitas de Limon) and fruits (Grandaillas). With each stay, she would envelop us in her cocoon of love and tenderness. 

 

Soon, we would take our trip to a finca, the traditional Colombian farms nestled in the mountains. We would spend the sunlight riding horses and playing in the frigid rivers, and the moonlight telling stories and hearing the crickets, cicadas, and stars. 

 

Colombia is my motherland, one which I hold a delicate tenderness in my heart. I will always make the yearly journey to reconnect with the part of my soul that dances for Colombia. The love and familiarity for its lively music, comforting food, kind people, and mother language are eternally entwined with my being, and Apita is at the center of it all. 

 

This body of work was photographed in a short week in March 2025. This series will continue with each visit to my dear city.