Sujey
Portrait with Heidi Gutman
Description:
Portrait with Zachary Maxwell Stertz
A strong memory from my childhood was going to St. Mary's Park and playing soccer with my father. Later in high school I didn't want to play because I felt it’s just a guys’ sport, but my female colleagues encouraged me to get into it and to try out for the soccer team. We ended up going to the State Championship, and it was really fun being part of a team. I was a defender. Playing soccer felt like a connection to my father and my past, and what I ended up studying in college was my vision towards the future. At first I was a Criminology Major, later I changed to Criminal Justice. I got bored and took a Gender Studies class. This felt like the right step forward. When I hit my sophomore year in college, this knowledge began to shape my personality - and I started thinking about the type of woman I wanted to be.
I knew that I wanted my portrait to be light and simple. My portrait concept was initially about gender equality within my Mexican culture and how in most Hispanic and Latino cultures, we have a lot of machismo. Here in the US we still have men who are misogynistic. It's something that I felt we, as women, have been fighting for - the determination to be treated equally. We want to be treated equally as our male colleagues in the workplace. At times you hear, “We need a man to step up, not a woman, they are too emotional.” That’s not necessarily true. Look at policies and what has gone on through history, it has been men who have caused wars.
Graduating with a Major in Gender Studies helped me shape my identity to be seen as a person and not just a gender. I want people to see me as a reliable person, but also as someone who takes chances. In the process of developing my portrait I’ve learned to take my time, reflect, and visualize. When I am at home or at work I have to complete a task, I have other expectations. But here working on the Portrait Project, I had time to think, “What do I want to be shown?” It was an internal process reflecting on my self- identity.
New York City, 2023