My Shadow Box
By Janie Otero
This is my shadow box. In this shadow bow in the inside it shows my chosen identities/counter narrative and in the outside of the box it represents what society thinks about me/dominant narrative. To start off the inside of my box shows my culture or ethnicity which is being Latina, the Mexican flag represents me because my parents are Mexican and I have a big part of Mexican culture in my heart. The pictures in the box represent special events for me and my family one of them is the picture in the mexico flag because we took this photo while I was in Mexico and I was with my Uncle, Grandma, 3 cousins and my Auntie and it was her birthday. That photo means alot to me because its just a memory I can go back to and remember it perfectly. The photo to our right shows one of my first Christmas and it was when I came home from my uncle’s house which is where we always go to have our big Christmas Eve party and we come back home around 3-4 am because we are very festive. The picture to our right just shows me with toys because I just enjoyed my childhood a lot. The Mexican doll to our right represents the time where we I went to Mexico and I got that doll with my grandmother. There is also this image that looks like a doll that says Queretaro and that represents the time my uncles took me to a different place where we got to hike up this mountain and saw a waterfall and I got that so I can remember the day my uncle took me and the rest of our family on a trip. You can see that my favorite artist are Romeo Santos and Banda ms this represents the kid of music I like. The volleyball represents one of my favorite sports that I play at school. The candy just represents how much I love Mexican candy and how good it tastes. You can also see that there is different amount of money and those are “pesos” which is just Mexican money. The photo with me and my younger sister just represents my bound with her and how I care about her so much. The picture with my mom , dad and me was taken in mothers day and I put it in my shadow box because I care so much and love my whole family. I also chose to add the Latina woman that says girl power because my chosen identity is being female which was also my assigned identity. You can also see my religion which is believing in god and “la virgen de guadalupe”. Also you can see I’m from Oakland which is also a big part of my identity because its where I grew up. The rose represents my grandma because her name is Rosa and in English it means rose so I added that because it reminds me of her. Thank you for listening.
Hi Janie,
I really enjoyed looking at your shadow box because it reminded me of myself. I am also Mexican and your shadow box brought me a whole bunch of memories from my childhood. Family is also important to me, and I can not wait to visit Mexico again to see my family. Overall, your shadow box was well done.
I like the way you explain the things that are in your shadow box of what represents you as a person. I love Romeo Santos I got introduce when my dad remarried to El Salvadorian woman after my mom past away and as well my husband is also that race. So, I know about the Hispanic culture. We saw his concert last year. It was fun even though I do not speak a lick of Spanish. I love the way you would express yourself with the adventures you have had with your family. Family is important. That reminds me of a time when I was living in Yuma, AZ that the people there were friendly but also of the Mexican Candy because it is so close to the border of Mexico. Love the girl power of what you wrote where you are strong.
Thanks for sharing.
Dear Janie, I am excited by your shadow box because I like how everything was organized.As well, how you explain all of it and everything in you box has a meaning to it.Also, the doll I like how it has a big meaning to it and how you explain why you put it their.
One sentence you wrote that stands out to me is when you said “The photo with me and my younger sister just represents my bound with her and how I care about her so much. The picture with my mom , dad and me was taken in mothers day and I put it in my shadow box because I care so much and love my whole family.” I think this is good because it gives a feel of how you truly feel for your family.
Another sentence that I liked was “The candy just represents how much I love Mexican candy and how good it tastes.” This stood out to me because I can agree with you on this because it really does taste good.
Your Shadow box reminds me of what I made once.One time I did the exact same thing the Shadow box my was in the same sense as yours because I added my family into it.As well I added the Mexican flag to because that is where my parents are from.Also,I added religion to it like you added la Virgen I added a cross.
Thank you for your shadow box.I look forward to seeing what you make next because I really liked what you did.The explanation of it all also it was detailed and it explained your shadow box well.