TERESA GUZMAN

I was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador and came to the U.S. in 1980 with my eldest daughter who was six months old at the time. I came to join my husband who had been here since 1970. Coming here was like entering an entirely new world. The language, the environment...everything was different. When I first arrived, I lived in a bedroom at my mother-in-law’s house because my daughter was still very young and it was difficult for me to work or study.

I have moved several times since settling in New York. A year into living with my mother-in-law, my family and I moved to an apartment on Webb Avenue. There, I met a lady who introduced me to selling Avon cosmetics, so I started selling those products, too. Then, a year after moving to an apartment on Webb Avenue, my brother’s application with the New York City Housing Authority was accepted, so we moved again! I am 63 now and have lived in my current apartment for 33 years. My family built our life in this community. My daughters attended the Catholic school right across the street and I worked at the daycare center there, too.

I am very proud of my community and of my roots.

DOCUMENTARY WORK

Taking my granddaughter to school in the snow. Bronx, New York, 2019.

Mural on 135th Street and Alexander Avenue, Bronx, New York, 2019.

Getting breakfast at my granddaughter’s school, Bronx, New York, 2019.

Child, up close. New York, 2019.

Christmas celebration in the cafeteria at church. The kids put on a play, ‘Do you let Jesus enter your house?’ Bronx, New York, 2019.

Bomba y Plena dance group, at Hostos Community College, Bronx, New York, 2019.

Puerto Rican Artesanos, Plena Dancers at Hostos Community College, Bronx, New York, 2019.

That’s me at my wedding. Guayaquil, Ecuador, July 1979.

Intrepid Museum, New York, 2020.

East River Ferry, New York, 2020.

COVID-19 PROJECT

During the COVID-19 global pandemic, students documented their experience with physical distancing and self-quarantine. As we had no access to their cameras, they used their mobile phones to capture the constant changes they faced, both positive and negative.