Kevin Serna is a photographer based in Chicago, IL. He received his Bachelors of Arts from Columbia College Chicago in 2012. His work has been shown both locally and abroad. Kevin has photographed for outlets such as WIRED, T Magazine, Monocle, WSJ. to name a few and his work has been shown in online publications such as It’s Nice That, Ain’t Bad, iGNANT and more.
About La Presa – words by Kevin Serna:
My father’s identity was shaped in a town called Presa de los Serna; his language, his values, and his expectations. My identity was shaped in a predominantly white suburban town outside of Chicago. I’ve always sensed our cultural differences and at times painfully so.
With La Presa, I wanted to confront my relationship with my father through observation of the place where he solidified his identity in before immigrating to the U.S. during the late 70’s.
In La Presa, we arrive in a small mountain town located in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Over the seven year span of this project, many of the photographs take place during an annual week long celebration of San Jose, the Father of Jesus.
In these observations, my father is almost never directly photographed, but simply a character at the edge of the frame guiding me into the world I believe he truly inhabits. Through these photographs; mutual empathy and realizations emerge and the divide mends. This is how I am able to truly know my father.
