I have selected these three images because they all represent three important moments in my life.

Valeria

The first image is of my mother. In 2017 my mother, brother and I decided to make very important life decisions. My brother and I had decided to live abroad to continue our studies, him in Italy and I in NYC. My mother had decided to take up a job in Tokyo working for the 2020 Olympics. On December 30th I said goodbye from my family in Brazil and got on a plane to NYC where I was picked up by my father. This photo was taken in the summer of 2018, the first time my brother mother and I had been together since I left. We had rented this Airbnb on St. Marks place and spent the summer together. After a long and hot day we were resting in the apartment and I caught my mom looking out the window while eating an ice cream cone, I loved the innocence of what she was doing and a second before I pushed the shutter my mother looked at me as if I had caught her in the act and it instantly became one of my favorite photos.

Luca & Francisco

This second image was from the first time a friend of mine had visited me from Brazil. My brother was still in town from the summer trip, we met up with Francisco and ventured around Manhattan, we found ourselves at a placed I had never been to, the garden roof of Lincoln Center. There we relaxed, talked about all sorts of things and watched as day became night. I found this mirror on the ground that someone had left and I decided to take a photograph of this wonderful and peaceful moment with friends. I saw this mirror and decided to experiment a little and came up with this composition however it was difficult to take the picture since we were constantly laughing at how difficult it was to frame Francisco in the mirror. These two are very important people to myself, Francisco is one of my dearest friends and Luca because not only is he my brother, he is also my best friend and I wouldn’t be able to be the person I am today if he wasn’t there.

Casa Nonna

The final photo in this collection of personal artifacts is of my grandparents house in Brazil. It is a very special place because when my family had moved to Brazil we didn’t have a place to live and they graciously accepted us into their home. My brother and I had never really had contact with my family since we were young and lived far away so this was our opportunity to get to know our family. There we learned so much about art, cinema, cooking and family values. I really cherish those years and their kindness towards my brother, my mother and I.