This is a picture of one of my uncles who passed away shortly after I was born. The only way I ever knew about him was through this single portrait. The only things I know about him are that his name was Javier and that he lived in Los Angeles for a bit. He immigrated to the US from Mexico in 1985 (which is what my family tells me) and my mom was able to meet him in 2003. I really wished I could've met him to be honest. It would've been really nice to meet somebody from my family that wasn't in or from New York. Same thing goes for other deceased relatives, like my paternal grandfather who died way before I was born. I didn't want to focus this on family history, however. I wanted to focus it more on the traditions in Mexico that revolve around things like this photo. An ofrenda is a memorial of a deceased family member (or multiple family members) created by living members of that family as a way to honor them, and offer (which is what ofrenda means in Spanish) them something to have in the afterlife. In Mexico, we do this every year on Dia De Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead on November 1st and 2nd and although we are not in Mexico, we still want to carry on the memories of those who have passed away and to think of those we were never able to meet.

– AA-M

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