‘Nena’ is an ongoing visual and sonic archival project—a short dream in film of lineage, maternity, and transition.

This piece is a re/collection and recounting of my grandmother’s home, and my daughters’ never-seen home. It’s a fever dream of moments captured and imagined, a reflection of the sounds of transition through stages of identity. As a mother, a Caribbean immigrant, a Black woman, and a human being as she forgets, and as we remember.

The ongoing work began in 2021.

The photos were captured by Jendayi Ingrum during the first filming session in 2021 of myslef (Camila), and my grandmother in my grandmother’s home in Aurora IL. Photos also shot on ‘Rainbow beach’ on Chicago’s southside wearing garments reflective of afroPuertorican Bombera wear.