The street formerly known as Brooklyn Avenue runs throughout East Los Angeles into the heart of Downtown Los Angeles. East Los Angeles is home to working class immigrants predominately from Mexico. The city reflects the culture of immigrant parents and their American children. Walking down Cesar E. Chavez Avenue one can’t help be engulfed with the Mexican American culture that thrives in the environment and its inhabitants.
The history is painted on the walls as murals of religious figures and portraits of political leaders. The traditions are cooked in the bakeries and restaurants as well as on the sidewalks. The struggles and accomplishments are voiced through the songs of musicians and the shouts of the people.
The intensity in all aspects of the culture and vibrancy of the atmosphere is what lured me to document Cesar E. Chavez Avenue. It is a place of familiarity and comfort for immigrant families striving to keep their beliefs and customs in a foreign country. It is a place of identity, the Mexican American identity.
I began documenting Cesar E. Chavez Avenue in February 2009 because I wanted to show the faces of the people who walk Cesar E. Chavez Avenue daily. The people who struggle to find work and earn money to provide for themselves and their families. I wanted to show the faces of the immigrants who came to this country in hopes of a better life but miss the ways of their homeland. The people who refuse to let their culture disappear but instead embrace the blend of the Mexican American identity.