remember me as a place by Andrea Sarcos

Issue 179

Exploring the intersections of migration, identity and memory through the lens-based practice of photography, I draw upon my personal journey as part of the Venezuelan diaspora. Through intimate portraits, landscapes and archival images I document the resilience and cultural ties of my family spread across the globe.

The maternal side of my story begins in Ecuador, where my mother and her 12 siblings were born.  Ecuador was home until it wasn’t. Many of them migrated to Venezuela to escape my grandfather’s abuse and to take advantage of the economic boom in the 70s. Venezuela gave them the chance to build better lives through hope, connection and hard work. They created new families and identities as a result. However abuse, separation, and instability continued to follow.

Much of my family then moved to the United States. We had to adapt and assimilate. Though we were undocumented for over a decade, we chased the American Dream while preserving our familial values and traditions. We all went through our personal journey with the immigration process. I became a citizen by marrying my highschool boyfriend when I was only 18. This was challenging and revealed a long process of paperwork, interviews, and life experiences that compelled me to consider my role in society and how documentation plays a fundamental role in life.

Over the past 8 years, I’ve gone back and forth to connect with my family in Ecuador and Venezuela, questioning, documenting and collecting archives, experiences, and memories as I go. My most recent discovery was my paternal family’s heirloom album in Venezuela, which was mostly destroyed by a flood many years ago. Only a few pages remain, and those images that were lost are now mysteries in our family’s archive.

This project provokes deeply personal yet universal questions:
Does landscape define us?
Are we bound to repeat patterns?
How is the passage of time and movement from place to place understood and documented? How does migration influence family dynamics, shape our means of communication, and influence our self-perceptions?

I invite viewers to reflect on their own connections to place, belonging, family and memory.

Andrea Sarcos (she/her) lives and works in Boca Raton/Miami, Florida, USA.
www.andreasarcos.com | @andreasarcosphoto