Diego Romo
Diego Romo (b. 1993, Jalisco, Mexico) is visual artist based in North Texas. His work challenges traditional image making and focuses on the construction of past and present through an examination of culture where authenticity is altered. Diego earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in photography from the University of North Texas.
Lo Que Construimos
Over the years I have heard my parent's memories; stories of warmth, youth, and poverty. There is no physical evidence of my family’s history, and I began to question photography’s function as our memory. Found imagery has become a process of portraying my family and the creation of our collective memory. In Forget me not: Photography and Remembrance, Geoffrey Batchen states “The photograph reveals a loved ones appearance, but the appearance provokes a memory that is hollowed out, disconnected from the social realities of its own production and also from those who are doing the remembering”. I look for my identity within found photographs that not only reflect my feelings, but allow me to imaginatively create memories or instances of my own family. I am creating a narrative for my family by mixing found images with images of my childhood. I cannot see a difference between the intimate moments created within someone else’s photographs and the photographs I create. Creating tension by manipulating these images forces traces of memory to be left behind or altered, allowing the authenticity of identity and family interaction to be questioned through a creative narrative.
