Jesse Lopez is a professional photojournalist and photographer from Oceanside, CA. Currently working out of Riverside, CA. Currently studying as a 4th year Media and Cultural Studies student at UC Riverside. I’ve been in the photography and journalism industry for 5 years. Utilizing a variety of skills and a passion for photography, both digital and analog formats, and alternative processes. Coming from a Mexican-American background with origins as an Oaxaqueño, the incorporation of Jesse’s culture is seen through art and in impacting others. “Everything is for the sacrifices that generations before me have made so I can be where I am; I will always acknowledge the power of migration. With a kind heart, I advocate for the truth and sincerity the world needs.”

“As I photographed my grandparents’ lives and portraits, my Grandfather would say, “Thank you very much”, because those are some of the only words he remembers in English when he was a part of the Bracero Program after ww2 during 1958-63. To reconnect with the past and tie my roots to my current goals. There was also a documentary filmed on my family’s town in 1973 by Giles Groulx; the documentary displayed the communal rebellion against a colonial system placed during the conquest of Mexico, the Hacienda system. Where families like mine were working endlessly for one family that owned all the land and rights to dictate how the town worked. The working people, the farmers, my abuelos, fought to bring it down. I come from revolutionaries and will carry that through my art.”

Jesse’s contemporary and conceptual artworks root from the stems of life and death, focusing on the moments they intersect. The solemnness of one’s soul is evident in Jesse’s eyes. Ultimately, Jesse’s artworks convey the significance of culture, family, and emotional baggage to create beauty and bring back that life.