Napa Remember Your Roots

Project Intro:

Immigration is the story of how we move across the world in search of safety, belonging, abundance, or simply a place to call home. It is one of the oldest stories of humankind, and certainly a story that defines Napa County. Some of our stories began with forced displacement, others with overflowing hope. All required unfathomable courage. This place is home to the Patwin, Onasatis, Pomo, and Miwok peoples, and also home to generations of proud Napans who have their own stories to tell of how their families came to find this beautiful valley. Whether it was 7 generations ago or just this year, there is a path of immigration in each of our families. We are in search of these stories. These are the roots of Napa, running deep into the soil, spanning from across the world, connecting us all.

Mission:

Napa Remember Your Roots is a project of Juntos. Our goal is to connect Napa County community members from different demographic backgrounds by exploring, sharing, and honoring our diverse immigration stories, both past and present. We believe that identifying shared core values through storytelling across time and generations, will unite our community: building bridges between ethnic groups, encouraging solidarity and connection.

Eva

Esbeidy Piña Alcántara

Francisca

Gloria

About the Artist

Izzi Valencia is a Mexican-born documentary photographer based in Napa, California. He immigrated with his family from Guadalajara to Napa at 13 and discovered photography in his high school darkroom. His work centers immigrant and Indigenous communities in California, Mexico and Guatemala. It has been exhibited at the Harvey Milk Photo Center and MONAD Gallery in San Francisco and at the Napa County Historical Society. For Napa Remember Your Roots, he photographed 20 community members and designed each of their banners.

Artist Statement

I came to Napa from Guadalajara as a boy, so this project feels close to home. Everyone who sat for these portraits carries a story of arrival, and of the family, work and community that rooted them here. I kept each session simple and unhurried, often photographing people where they had just shared their stories. Before I made each portrait, I asked them to think of something that gave them personal satisfaction, a time they knew they had helped their community and its members. What came through was a calm sense of purpose. I gave every banner the same visual design so they read as one community, not twenty separate portraits. I hope that seeing these faces along downtown Napa's streets, neighbors recognize something of themselves in one another.