Kristiana Zulaybar, Comfort table (2024)
This photo series I created is inspired by Carrie Mae Weems’ The Kitchen Table Series, in which I explore being an immigrant and the emotions tied to being away from my home country.In The Kitchen Table series portrayed by Weems, the table represents an intimate, everyday space where conversations and relationships unfold. Similarly, I chose the kitchen table since the table is an intimate space and it is where I can find comfort and it is where I think a lot of my home country. In my version, it is less of a story but more of a portrayal of being an immigrant, where I show how there would still be times that I find myself longing for my home country, not being with some family member, and being my true authentic self. Being an immigrant, I would often feel like putting a facade but being at home, in front of the table gives me comfort. The table in this picture is also where my family and I would gather the most and it reminded me of some of the photos from the Kitchen Table Series.
Quote 1: NYTIMES: How Carrie Mae Weems Rewrote the Rules of Image-Making
“Weems stares out at us in a way that insists we not simply look at her but really see her — a charged exchange, but also a beautifully leveling one: Here we are, human to human, across the table from one another.”
-I wanted to convey the feeling of being away from my home country. Many people often overlook how challenging it can be to leave the place where you grew up and move to a different country. The kitchen table is an intimate space that allows viewers to connect with these emotions on a deeper level.
Quote 2: Revisiting Carrie Mae Weems’s Landmark “Kitchen Table Series”
“Weems’s black-and-white photographs are like mirrors, each reflecting a collective experience: how selfhood shifts through passage of time; the sudden distance between people, both passable and impassable; the roles that women accumulate and oscillate between; how life emanates from the small space we occupy in the world.”
- Her images do more than show a picture; they also reveal different layers of human experience. Weems did great encapsulating an experience and story on a small space and can make viewers relate to it and think about their own experience.
Quote 3: Overlooked No More: Ana Mendieta, a Cuban Artist Who Pushed Boundaries
“As an immigrant, Mendieta felt a disconnect in the United States. The trauma of being uprooted from her Cuban homeland as a girl would leave her with questions about her identity and make her more conscious of being a woman of color.”
- Taking this quote from Ana Mendieta, I can really relate to it. As an immigrant in the United States, I often feel a sense of disconnection. I feel like don’t quite fit in because I am ‘new’ to the country. Even when I meet people who share my ethnicity, there is still a difference between us, especially compared to those who grew up here.
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