Description

Between the palm trees and messy garages in the landscapes of Phoenix and Los Angeles, guns, tattoos, pit bulls, and cars appear alongside a tender aubade, a couple holding hands, a baby bathing in a kitchen sink. In a society that would rather disappear or ignore its own grittier dimensions, Salazar’s work is both a refusal to be silenced and a love letter to the communities that sing, dance, live, and love, in their own beautiful and dangerous ways.

Alongside Salazar’s powerful visual narrative, a series of poems by José Olivarez constellates the book. Each poem “speaks” in its own way—to, of, with, and beyond the subjects of Salazar’s photos—with humor, honesty, and compassion. These artists together in Por Siempre are a force: expanding and lifting each other’s best parts, as those in sincere and caring communities often do.

ANTONIO SALAZAR is a photographer based in Phoenix, Arizona. His work features a glimpse into the culture of the fifth-largest city in the US. Themes surrounding Chicane/x identity in the Southwest are heavily explored through his art.

JOSÉ OLIVAREZ is the son of Mexican immigrants. His debut book of poems, Citizen Illegal, was a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Award and a winner of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize.