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• 1 media/IMG_2878_Original.jpg 2022-06-19T19:34:41+00:00 Photography: Mia Vasquez 12 gallery 2022-06-22T07:45:34+00:00
  

  “Photography for me is a visual language. A way of communicating. I often ask myself, what do I want to communicate in my work? And how can it be translated visually?” -Mia Vasquez to Olivia Hingley, 2022 

  Mia Vasquez is a Queer documentary photographer based in Santo Domingo and New York. Her documentary practice challenges stereotypes and concepts through a sociological lens while exploring the intersections of identity, culture, and Queer theory (Photo Vogue, 2022). Mia creates images to expand representation and inclusion in the visual world (Photo Vogue, 2022). 

  Since her recent move from New York to Santo Domingo, Mia has been documenting her new surroundings. In her new developing project Audiovisual Cuir (including her own self-protraits), Mia states, “it is a developing body of work, existing to challenge hetero traditions on gender and sex binaries in the Dominican Republic, a heavy dominated religious country..that offers no access to sex or gender education” (Vasquez, 2022). The Audiovisual Cuir project further proves and validates the presence and Queer life of the Dominican Republic. Mia also mentions the visible institutionalized discrimination affecting LGBTQ+ folks across the country.  She states, “The Senate in the Dominican Republic is currently trying to approve el codigo penal, a penal code excluding religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity as grounds for discrimination. It will not be considered discrimination if LGBTQ+ folks are excluded from any health service, any employment, and any commercial establishment. The reformation of DR's penal code will affect the lives of many already oppressed” (Vasquez, 2022). Throughout the series, Mia’s beautiful storytelling ability capture her subjects through her lens with honesty, care, and intention. 

  In addition to the developing project Audiovisual Cuir, Mia also includes some of her candid self-protraits. One of the images is Mia wearing her father's red tie and linen trousers (see fig. 2). In Olvia Hingely’s interview with Mia, while discussing the image, Mia explains, “my hair is very short, so I present as masculine to others depending on the clothes I wear. As a queer nonbinary, I am met with a lot of questions about my identity…this polaroid photo of me feels iconic in a way” (Hingley 2022). Aside from capturing Queer folks in the Dominican Republic, Mia also brings her own identity into her artwork which challenges heteronormative traditions of the gender binary. 

  Mia Vasquez’s artwork captures the interconnections of identity, queerness, representation, and activism. Throughout her developing project Audiovisual Cuir, she speaks on the present-day issues that affect LGBTQIA+ folks in the Dominican Republic. Mia’s use of visual art has been a form of activism to portray a community that is present and eager to seek justice in their homelands.  In addition, Mia vulnerably shares her identity as a Queer nonbinary person and communicates her self-expression  to her audience. As an artist whose identity intersects with her documentary practice, she does not fail to show a representation of the LGBTQIA+ community in the Dominican Republic. Whether Mia intended to speak on LGBTQIA+ issues in the Dominican Republic or not, she beautifully showcases the power art has to create social change and display that Queer Dominicans are more than deserving of having a liberated life. 

  “A project portraying queer life in the Dominican Republic as desirable and sacred” - Mia Vasquez 2022