Ambiente is a long-term documentary project and personal love letter to the Hispanic diaspora. It’s about more than place—it’s about feeling. A memory, a plate of food, a rhythm, a block that reminds you of home, even if you’re miles away. Through this work, I aim to capture the essence of culture as it’s lived and felt: ordinary moments that carry extraordinary weight.

This project documents how Latinidad moves, evolves, and endures—across cities like Boston, through rural places like Loíza, and within the people who carry it. I’m building Ambiente slowly over five years, creating a body of work that feels like lived memory. It’s my way of preserving culture, belonging, and the atmosphere that ties us together.

The idea for Ambiente began with something my aunt said—how she missed the ambiente of our neighborhood in the spring and summer. She wasn’t talking about the location itself, but the feeling: the energy of cookouts, the music spilling into the street, the warmth of community in motion. Even as someone who often felt apart rather than a part of it all, her words struck something in me. They reminded me of falling asleep on the coats at family parties, of being passed from lap to lap as a toddler—those fleeting, familiar moments that live in our bodies long after they’ve passed. That’s what I’m chasing: the feeling of belonging, memory, and presence that defines our culture at its most alive.