After ending one decade and entering the next, local South Bay photographer Carlos Solorio showcases a cultural photography exhibit at the Central Cultural de la Raza as a manifestation of his identity which developed between two worlds, as someone born in Tijuana and raised in San Diego.
The exhibit, “Beyond TransFronterizo Lens”, will be showcased through March 30. It contains images Solorio captured in the past 25 years professionally and personally.
According to Solorio, it is an “invitation to see the transborder, cross-border, fronterizo lens that I carry with me at all times both figuratively and literally.”
As a youth raised in San Diego’s South Bay and Oak Park neighborhoods, his education at Mission Bay High School led him to a life of photography, drafting classes, which has paved a way for him to pursue a Bachelors Degree at San Diego State University and California State University Los Angeles. He furthered his education by attaining a Master of Arts at SDSU in Liberal Arts with a focus on Media Studies, Fine Arts & Transformative Arts.
“I'm trying to spark that identity that we all, that desire or yearning to get to know where our grandparents come from— their language and customs through photos,” Solorio said.
His experiences of travel going beyond the border region began with childhood trips visiting family in the states of Jalisco and Guanajuato in Mexico.
“I have been fortunate to travel beyond our border region to connect with my roots, learn about different cultures and history, and expand my global perspective and shared human commonalities in this world,” Solorio said.
The exhibit is the documentation of key moments in Solorio’s travels that “are seemingly mundane moments in life— the spaces and times that we see but are not fully cognizant of,” he said.
“When I take photos, people ask permission to take a glimpse of their identity at that moment. Especially in our culture, traditions that have been nurtured and passed on through the generations,” Solorio said. “These moments aren't revolutionary moments, but they are sacred moments that can be easily missed.”
Alongside his wife, who helped curate the exhibit, Solorio said it pays tribute to his roots “both by blood and by choice to the sacred moments of space and time in Aztlan (The Southwest), my homeland of Mexico and the Maya people, activists of Guatemala, the revolutionaries and everyday people of Cuba, our Polynesian brother's band sister, the future artists, and activist and to all the moments and individuals that may otherwise go unnoticed."
