Padre dismantles the construction of masculinity through a female lens, targeting the entrenched machismo prevalent in Latin American cultures. Between social critique and pursuit of the self, filiation and solace, incarnating presence and the effects of absence, the project exposes the intricate and conflicting ways masculinity is indoctrinated and performed.
The genesis of the project was a collection of letters my father left me before he passed. Within this correspondence, my grandfather grapples with absentee parenting and imparts advice on navigating manhood to his sons. These exchanges offer a window into how men negotiate their relationship with masculinity as they confront its entanglement with violence, power, and patriarchal structures. Grounded in personal history and cultural heritage, Padre critically examines the conventional roles imposed on men touching on contemporary expressions of virility and how these determine our social structures.
The act of hunting, both literal and metaphorical, serves as a central motif. Hunting embodies conquest, control, and domination over the natural world, mirroring how machismo dictates the relationship between men and their environment. Padre juxtaposes this primal instinct with the nurturing and emotional aspects of fatherhood. This contrast exposes the challenges men face in reconciling societal expectations of toughness and emotional restraint with their own internal struggles and desires for vulnerability and connection.