My mother has few photos of her and her family from El Salvador. When she moved to Maryland in '99 she brought back at most 3 photos of her family. She came to live here in the US with her longtime family friend that migrated a few years earlier, she was the biggest pull factor for my mother, knowing she had someone in the U.S. who would help establish roots. That longtime friend had a camera that eventually was passed down to me. When we finally got the opportunity to go back to visit my grandparents in El Salvador there was this black and white photo hanging in the kitchen of my mom, my grandmother and I at the metro from when they came to visit us in MD. That photo is falling apart, and it is something so meaningful to see the first time my grandmother got to meet me and see her daughter 4 years after she left their country captured. To see the photo age is bittersweet as it shows the passing of years. Every time I pick up a camera, my intention is to captivate the feelings. This story is similar to the lesson we had on Mexican- Americans. Thousands moved to the states to escape the violence of revolution, like my mom who left ES because of the spiking gang violence and never-ending slaughter, all examples of push factors. My mother left with 3 photos, not knowing if she was going to see her family again but held those photos and brought them with her because she didn't know if she was to see them again. She traveled to the US with a large group similarly to the Mexicans who all had the same reason to leave, they wanted a better life that didn’t have violence, a pull fac

– YR

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant