Citlali Fabián

©Citlali Fabián from the series, I’m from Yalalag

June’s featured photographer is Citlali Fabian

Citlali Fabián is a Mexican visual artist and storyteller who uses photography to explore ways of addressing identity and its connections with territory, migration, and community bonds. Her work has been shown in solo and collective exhibitions around the world, and is part of Mexico’s National Institute of Fine Arts Toledo Collection, the Patricia Conde Collection, and the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University. A member of the Women Photograph and Natives Photograph collectives, Fabián was selected to participate in the seventh annual the New York Times Portfolio Review.

Her Mestiza series was selected as one of the New York Times Lens blog’s “13 Stories That Captured Photography in 2018.”
Fabián holds a BA in Photography from the Universidad Veracruzana, an MFA from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico and a Photographic Preservation and Collection Management Certificate from the George Eastman Museum, supported by the C15 fellowship by Oaxaca State Culture Department.

Fabián is a National Geographic explorer, with her project; I’m from Yalalag, a photo essay to explore the development of our Zapotec identity.

The photographer Citlali Fabián documented the culture that persists and sustains in her hometown Yalálag, Mexico, and beyond, through its residents and its diaspora.

The homes, streets and shops that make a community tangible may crumble, and its residents may scatter, but the invisible bonds of culture, love and longing endure. This is not mere nostalgia. It sustains life itself.

Among the indigenous people from Yalálag in Mexico’s Oaxaca state, these ties bind them to one another, no matter where they may have migrated in search of opportunity. Citlali Fabián’s parents hailed from there, moved to Mexico City, and returned to Oaxaca City, which is 90 gruelling kilometres away from Yalálag. But no matter where Ms. Fabián lived, her heritage kept her — and others — close to the cradle of her people, who descended from the Zapotecs.

Words by David González published on Lens Blog –  The New York Times

The entrance of the old Pantheon of Yalálag, 2017. ©Citlali Fabián from the series, I’m from Yalalag
A mixed band invited to participate in the Rosario Virgin celebration. Cuautepec. Mexico City. Octubre, 2018. ©Citlali Fabián from the series, I’m from Yalalag
Father and son. Our music and dance connect us each, other over time, over generations, no matter distance. Cuautepec, Mexico City, 2018 ©Citlali Fabián from the series, I’m from Yalalag
Kids dancing during the Rosario calenda (procession). Cuautepec, Mexico City, Octubre 2018 ©Citlali Fabián from the series, I’m from Yalalag
Yalaltec descendents after performed Cuerudos danza, for a Nosotros los Serranos festival. December, 2016 ©Citlali Fabián from the series, I’m from Yalalag
Musicians on their way to the San Antonio Jaripeo. Yalálag. June, 2018 ©Citlali Fabián from the series, I’m from Yalalag
Alicia Aquino. Yalaltec of modern times. Oaxaca City. February, 2018 ©Citlali Fabián from the series, I’m from Yalalag
People dancing at my cousin Mela’s wedding. Traditional weddings in Yalalag occur over four days, and on the day of the wedding ceremony people dance around the village, as a way to announce the transcendency of the event. They go from groom’s to the bride’s house, making a big circle around the town. Zapotec communities are deeply attached to their traditional music. July, 2018 ©Citlali Fabián from the series, I’m from Yalalag
The band of Mixistlán in the musical hearing in honor to San Antonio de Padua. Yalálag, June, 2018 ©Citlali Fabián from the series, I’m from Yalalag
A man attending to hear the invited and local bands performing during San Antonio de Padua celebration. Yalalag. June, 2018 ©Citlali Fabián from the series, I’m from Yalalag
Burial in Yalalag, January, 2018 ©Citlali Fabián from the series, I’m from Yalalag
My aunt Reynalda. When my grandfather passed away my aunt was one of the first to arrive at his home. She took care of the food preparation for the burial, as she has been doing for all our family ceremonies, from celebrations to ones where we say good bye. She said she went early that morning to visit him because she thought he had knocked on her door earlier that day…There are mysterious things that connect us to each other. February, 2017. ©Citlali Fabián from the series, I’m from Yalalag

La fotógrafa del mes de Junio es Citlali Fabian

Fotógrafa y artista visual oaxaqueña. Cursó la Licenciatura en Fotografía en la Universidad Veracruzana y la Maestría en Artes Visuales en la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. En el 2015, obtuvo la certificación en Preservación y Manejo de Colecciones que otorga el Museo George Eastman en la ciudad de Rochester, Nueva York, EUA. En 2017, fue invitada a participar como artista residente en el Flower City Center of Arts en la misma ciudad. Su trabajo fotográfico explora diversas manifestaciones de su identidad y herencia cultural. Siendo publicado en medios como el Lens Blog del New York Times, LA Times, Remezcla, revista Cuartoscuro, IM Magazine y la revista la Palabra y el Hombre, entre otros. En 2018, su serie fotográfica Mestiza fue seleccionada como una de las 13 historias favoritas por el Lens Blog del New York Times.

Actualmente desarrolla el proyecto fotográfico Ben’n Yalhalhaj / Soy de Yalálag, en el cual documenta a su comunidad zapoteca-yalalteca alrededor de México y Estados Unidos, siendo esta última parte del proyecto beneficiada por National Geographic Society Grants.

Su trabajo ha sido expuesto de forma individual en México y Estados Unidos, así como en muestras colectivas en España, Holanda y Argentina. Además de formar parte de colecciones entre las que destacan la Colección INBA/Toledo, la Colección Patricia Conde y la Colección Wittliff de la Universidad de Texas en Estados Unidos.

Una fotógrafa mexicana explora los lazos de su cultura indígena

Los hogares, las calles y las tiendas que conforman una comunidad tangible podrán derrumbarse, sus habitantes podrán dispersarse, pero los vínculos invisibles de la cultura, el amor y la añoranza perduran. No se trata únicamente de nostalgia; es algo que sostiene a la vida misma.

Esos lazos unen entre sí a los habitantes indígenas de Yalálag en el estado mexicano de Oaxaca, sin importar adónde hayan migrado en busca de una oportunidad. Los padres de Citlali Fabián salieron del pueblo para mudarse a Ciudad de México y luego regresaron a la ciudad de Oaxaca, que se encuentra a 90 agotadores kilómetros de distancia desde Yalálag. Pero sin importar dónde viviera Fabián, su legado la mantuvo (a ella y a otros) cerca de la cuna de su pueblo, descendientes de los zapotecas.

Escrito por David González published on Lens Blog –  The New York Times