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Join Us They used to call them recuerdos (meaning memories, but also souvenirs or keepsakes), the portraits captured against a painted backdrop by itinerant photographers known in Puerto Rico and elsewhere as ambulantes . In contrast to the scenic images exported en masse to promote a picturesque vision for foreign investors and tourists, these were highly personal snapshots, often taken with a specific recipient in mind. “The photos would be sent out to the mainland as a way of saying: ‘I’m thinking of you, I miss you,’” said Norma I.
Quintana , whose parents immigrated to Cleveland, Ohio, from the Puerto Rican mountain town of Lares. Her mother sent Quintana’s father one such token of remembrance from the island, one of multiple kept in family albums, and the artist posed for similar studio portraits as a child during trips back to visit relatives. Quintana has photographed around 100 individuals in her current home of Napa Valley i.