Time in Between is a post-documentary self-portrait series that explores cultural memory and intergenerational inheritance. Through layered, symbolic imagery, the work centers the women in my maternal lineage, my mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Reflecting on how memories express themselves from generation to generation. How we carry this memorized inheritance of strength and trauma. As a first-generation Peruvian-American born and raised in New York, I grew up with fragments of our story. My family left behind nearly everything to survive in an unfamiliar place. What remained were a few photographs, some oral traditions, memories and cultural pride. Time in Between reclaims agency over one’s narrative. I’m not just preserving family history, I’m actively reimagining it, using the photographic medium to honor the fluidity of time and memory. I turn to self-portraiture not just because I see myself in these women, but because I am an extension of their gifts, pain and joy. These portraits are not recreations of specific moments but emotional renderings of what was witnessed, expressed and inherited. The images function as dreamscapes, drawing on a post-documentary language that merges fact and imagination to reimagine our history. I use layering, and symbolism to mirror how memory behaves, nonlinear, fluid, deeply embodied and distorted. The project in depth examines how first-generation children often navigate the role of cultural archivist, piecing together fragments to preserve a sense of home. Time in Between refers to the spaces between generations, between what is remembered and what is lost. It speaks to time’s ability to collapse the past into the present, allowing us to reimagine our histories. In the end, this project is for my family and for families like mine who carry the weight of blurred histories. It is an offering and a marker of our existence.

Time in Between blends self-portraiture and documentary photography to trace the echoes of memory and inheritance across generations. Medium: Photography, medium format film.