Photographed and Written by Kate Savinelli
For many people, specific values drive their lives. The beliefs and principles one grows up with affects nearly all aspects of life: what career they choose, who their friends are, and what they hope to be. For others, though, this phenomenon is strained. Some have multiple, differing values to learn, and thus struggle with balance and purpose.
Enrique Calle-Matute is the first United States citizen in his family. His mother, from Ecuador, speaks to him in only Spanish and instills "old world" generational ideologies in him. His colleagues and friends, however, speak only English and have much more modern outlooks on the world. How is he to prioritize both? For immigrants and first-generation citizens, this is certainly a challenge.
I. CARRYING VALUES EVEN IF THEY ARE UNIQUE
Enrique prepares to grill dinner for the evening. Many nights a week, he will cook various ethnic dishes for his roommates. He makes a point that "feeding people makes me full." In other words, feeding people makes him content.
Marinated chicken begins to cook. Enrique's most valuable lesson learned from his Ecuadorian heritage is food-based. Even at college, where most students use dining halls and order takeout, Enrique prides himself in his cooking abilities.
Heat exudes from the outdoor grill and onto his face. His mother taught him how to cook meals that would feed a lot of people when he was young, so he almost always cooks in huge portions.
He finishes up the meal by slathering mayonnaise, cotija cheese, and chili powder on corn to create "elote," a street-style corn. Grilled pineapple sits beside the corn.
"Feeding people makes me full. I know it sounds weird, but if they're happy, so am I."
II: BELIEFS SHAPE THE FUTURE
Another thing Enrique takes from his "old values" is his intense belief in spiritual life.
In the photograph to the left, a doctor's note is accompanied by a dollar bill, both pinned to the wall. In his college apartment, Enrique and his roommates created a type of "shrine" to honor the student who lived in their apartment before them and died of a drug overdose.
Enrique explains he doesn't want any bad luck from the prior tenant's death. He is a strong advocate for honoring the dead in any way he can, mostly to keep spirits away.
"I can't even watch TV shows about spirits haunting people. There's this new movie out... 'La Llorona'... which is an actual old Latin American folklore... my mother told me the story once and now I'm never watching that movie."
III. MAKING A VIRTUAL CONNECTION
Enrique's mother is not fluent in English, so often he will receive FaceTime calls from his younger sister. Family bonds are important to Enrique, so his frequent calls home justify his love for connection... even if it's virtual. The video calls home mainly come with updates on school, funny encounters since the last call, and questions his mother cannot answer for his sister: math problems.
"My mother only knows basic math... not all this new stuff they teach kids in elementary school. Sometimes even I don't know what they're asking."
Enrique prioritizes his home life as much as a college student can. Between his ethnic dishes he cooks for his friends, his belief in spiritual life, and his connection with his family even virtually, he balances "old" with "new." When asked what he loves most about his life, his answer was not hesitant: "Who I am. My history, and my future."
IV: ABOUT THIS PROJECT
The topic surrounding Enrique is newsworthy based on the immense amount of people in the United States that deal with this conflicting phenomenon. Not only is there a great number of immigrants in the country, but a great span of ideologies and beliefs. Photographing Enrique was just one international grain of sand in a beach full of growing culture.
Visual journalism can be shown in a multitude of ways, and that idea has only furthered my knowledge of photojournalism. At first, I didn't have a good grasp on the concept of showing viewers what I want to do, and rather thought it would be easier to just write about it. Now, after photographing and creating this photo essay, I realize the effect that photographs can have on a person both emotionally and mentally. I can only hope that viewers of this photo essay realize the effects of changing values in a changing world.
Visual journalism provides emotion most importantly. In a text-based story, you cannot see the facial expressions of Enrique as he FaceTimes his younger sister. In a text-based story, you cannot see the extent to which he is cooking dinner for his roommates. With visual journalism, you are able to capture so much more than text could ever say.
With image-centric stories, you cannot adequately delve into the problems/solutions behind the story. If it was more text-based, you may be able to cite other sources to read upon as well as use more factual information to get a point across. But with image-centric stories, one has to rely on pictures to tell the narrative.
Kate Savinelli | 2020