We Are Still Here combats a reductive and colonialist white-American slant on womxn of Mexican heritage with intricately designed graphic features and refined photographic portraiture. Following a commanding foreword by Alma Rosa Rivera (in which she expertly describes the pluralism implicit within the Chicanismx identity), Devyn Galindo depicts femme and female-bodied Chicanx in strong, situated positions – exuding power and authority. Photography is employed in We Are Still Here to dismantle abstract but heavily adhered-to notions of silence or timidity within marginalized communities across the Mexican-American border.
Rivera’s statement revels in the potential within each member of the communities straddled by the imposed restrictions of national lines; she views the challenging reality of an alienated sense of place as an opportunity to grow adaptive and feel roots beyond their physical assertion: “We may live on this side of a man made border…but there are no borders for us.”
We Are Still Here features a small red zine in a pocket on the inside jacket; this zine further celebrates the multitudes of identifying factors that enrich the experience of a Chicanx individual.
