Photographer Jennifer Garza-Cuen's project “Detroit” is part of a larger project entitled Wandering In Place, which depicts a series of locations in the United States as a residue of her cultural memory, an inheritance. It is a metaphorical memoir, a narrative re-telling of facts and fictions and it is also her discovery of the dreamland that still is America.

Many years ago I left America to travel the world. I spent over a decade doing just that and in the process experienced first-hand the often arresting disparity between our perceptions (made up of memory and myth) and reality (which seems to lie somewhere between conflicting memory myths). To most people I encountered I would only ever be a name, a stranger, a bundle of preconceived ideas arrived at based on their own experiences.
- Jennifer Garza-Cuen

As I travelled, I began to feel particularly shackled by the identity of ‘American’. What exactly did that mean anyway? Since returning to the United States several years ago, I have been fascinated by the myths of America: the shining city on the hill, boom and bust, the frontier spirit of rugged individualism, of striking it rich and striking out, and I’ve also been keenly aware of the reality of its hardships; of free-market narcissism, prescribed isolation, injustice, wealth disparity, and decadence.

- Jennifer Garza-Cuen

I use what is referred to as a hybrid (analogue to digital) process, often shooting film (using a large format 4×5 camera) then scanning for digital editing and printing. For digital editing I use RAW Processor and Photoshop and do very little post-processing.
- Jennifer Garza-Cuen

I have found that making images forces me to engage with the world in a very specific way. Photography is about looking and when it works well, it’s about seeing. My goal is to produce work that invites viewers to look and to wonder, what they see is up to them.

- Jennifer Garza-Cuen

About Jennifer Garza-Cuen

Jennifer Garza-Cuen is a photographer from the Pacific Northwest. She received her MFA in photography and MA in the History of Art and Visual Culture from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her BA in comparative literature was completed at the American University in Cairo. During both years of her attendance at RISD, she received the prestigious RISD GS competitive grant. She was also awarded the Daniel Clarke Johnson, the Henry Wolf, and the Patricia Smith Scholarships. Additionally, she has received fellowships to attended residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, Oxbow, Brush Creek, and Hambidge. Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, published in contemporary photography journals such as Blink, The Photo Review, and Conveyor Magazine as well as on-line journals such as Conscientious, Feature Shoot, Aint-Bad, Fubiz, Dazed, and Juxtapose Magazines.

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