Ruth Prieto Arenas. Blue.

Safe Heaven

This project is a new interpretation of immigration using color as a unifying metaphor of diversity and acceptance. Each woman will be identified with a color palette so that a mosaic of color represents diversity.

Ruth Prieto Arenas

Ruth Prieto Arenas. Red.

Ruth Prieto Arenas. Red.
A waitress at stands at the counter where she hands back the check and the tips.
Ruth Prieto Arenas. Yellow.
Details on the wall reveal Juanita’s partner main hobby and their devotions. A ferrari and a vigen of Guadalupe hang on the wall as details of culture and preferences.
Ruth Prieto Arenas. Yellow.
Lluvia sits on her bed with a pink dress bought for special occasions.

Ruth Prieto Arenas. Yellow.

Ruth Prieto Arenas. Yellow.
Juanita sweeps the floor of her house. When she doesn’t get a job from her maid agency, she stays home and cleans.
Ruth Prieto Arenas. Blue.
Delia is on the phone with her boyfriend. She lives in a house of two rooms with her two sisters. She shares her room with one of them. In the other room lives her other sister Mirella , mother of two and her husband.
Ruth Prieto Arenas. Blue.
Typical food from Oaxaca such as Tlayudas is sent over by Delia’s mother. Tlayudas are a type of tortilla made out of blue corn and slighty bigger than common tortillas. Its taste and consitency is different due to the way is toasted and how it is prepared.
Ruth Prieto Arenas. Blue.
La Virgen de Guadalupe has a beautiful altar at Delia’s house. She is full with red roses and candles that adorn her everyweek.
Ruth Prieto Arenas. Purple.
Maribel (21) lives in two bedroom apartment. She shares one room with her husband a two daughters. They live with another Mexican.
Ruth Prieto Arenas. Purple.
Maribel has been pregnant for six months. married for two years. Her husband works double shifts and gets home very late. She takes care of Sherlyne (2) and Evelyn (9 months)

I am presenting the lives of Juanita in yellow, Delia’s in blue and Sabel in green. Homes have deep emotional meaning. Through their homes we get to know them, their motivations, their thoughts and aspirations along with the conditions they live in that reveal how much they have achieved and struggled. They have painted and decorated their rooms according to their own personal story and choice. I am exploring the notion of safety and confidence in relation to space.

The NYC Mind

Another project which caught my eye on Tumblr. Artspeak and ambitious goal aside, I really like these as representations of a community by someone kind of in that community. These are photos about people, not just of them and the way that so many have of them have detailed captions is as important to the story as just the images.

Also, I really love the way Prieto Arenas is using color. It’s not just the colors of the walls, there’s a lot of subtle lighting and color temperature stuff going on which gives each series an internal consistency.