Celebrating home, one frame at a time
Hector Emanuel photographs social and environmental issues in Latin America and the States
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.When I was 13, in 1981, I immigrated to the United States with my parents and sister from Peru. Since that time the DC area has been my home. In many ways, I’ve lived a hybrid life based on values, traditions and experiences of two countries, which is nothing unusual for immigrants. But as I’ve gotten older, and the reality that I have lived in Washington for about three-fourths of my life has set in, I have become more nostalgic for Peru – family, food, friends, traditions.
Three years ago I embarked on a long-term project exploring my roots; in particular, I wanted to document daily life, festivals and traditions in Lake Titicaca, Puno, where my Italian great-great-grandfather immigrated to in the late 1800s, from Italy.
Like me, he was an immigrant and a photographer. and He was also a writer, and musician, and completely immersed in the life and culture of his adopted home, never returning to his native land.
By the time I was born, my family had long left Lake Titicaca, but that’s where many of the great stories I heard as a child came from.
And as the folklore capital of Peru, it is also central to Peruvian identity. Whereas Puno was a new land that meant a new identity for my great-great-grandfather, for me it is a land of inherited memories and part of my identity. Like my great-great-grandfather, I, too, have made my life in a new country. In most ways Puno, in the Andean high plains with an altitude over 12,000 feet, could not be more different from Washington, yet both places represent home for me.
Hector Emanuel photographs social and environmental issues in Latin America and the States
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments