Momma and the Grove is the story of a rift between the two women who raised me and how my mother’s exotic fruit grove reticulates the themes between us three. Our entanglements sprouted in the roots of this land when my late grandfather gave this grove full of mangoes, guavas, avocados, and cherimoyas to my mother. Here, these hallowed fruits have replenished the core of our spirits yet tainted our appreciation for each other. Feeling cursed and blessed simultaneously, I am at a precipice in my life. I recognize the biased ideology held by my grandmother, and my mother’s rejection of that ideology through her chosen contradicting lifestyle.

The Grove is the product of 30 years of hard labor, hard relations, and hard truths circulated around class, culture, and generational values. It’s formulated the bulk of my conceptions of the world. It’s the reason I am who I am. Momma and the Grove is the story of the relationships between my mother, my mother’s boyfriend, and my grandmother, as well as the remnants of my father and grandfather’s influences. These photographs speak to the responsibility I’ve harbored through these recognitions and my yearning for reconciliation between the two heroes in my life.