{"id":122035,"date":"2023-06-26T13:47:51","date_gmt":"2023-06-26T18:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?p=122035"},"modified":"2023-06-30T10:11:19","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T15:11:19","slug":"recent-uwm-grad-focuses-on-telling-stories-with-images","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/recent-uwm-grad-focuses-on-telling-stories-with-images\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent 51ÁÔÆæ grad focuses on telling stories with images"},"content":{"rendered":"
Jovanny Caballero Hernandez found his passion for photography in high school.<\/p>\n
One of his teachers was impressed with the work he did on a project focused on his south side Milwaukee neighborhood and encouraged him to take photography courses.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s when I decided photography and art were what I wanted to do, and what I wanted to choose as my college major,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hernandez, now 22, graduated from 51ÁÔÆæ in May with a bachelor\u2019s degree in fine arts with an emphasis on photography and imaging and a minor in journalism.<\/p>\n His work has already collected awards and a good bit of attention.<\/p>\n Most recently he was the focus of a new N\u014d Studios mini-documentary, the first in a series titled \u201cCreating Milwaukee,<\/a>\u201d which debuted in April. In May, he was awarded a major grant ($10,000) from gener8tor Art X Sherman Phoenix. He is also a photographer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, where he began working full time as a visual journalist after graduation. And he recently won a National Headliner Award for a photo for the newspaper.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, it is about storytelling, being able to tell a story with a single image,\u201d Hernandez said.<\/p>\n Most of his work, he said, grows out of his own cultural heritage, the son of immigrants from Mexico. His parents often talked about Oaxaca, where they grew up, and how they missed family there. When he was able to travel to Oaxaca, Hernandez brought his camera with him as he met his extended family and documented daily life.<\/p>\n On his website<\/a>, Hernandez wrote of his family background<\/a>. \u201cAt a young age, I understood the sacrifice my parents made in order to give me and my siblings a better life. I am not only sharing the stories of my family through art but the stories of millions of migrants who make the same sacrifice in order to achieve a better life and future for their children.\u201d<\/p>\n In his portraits and other work, Hernandez, said, he celebrates the lives of people who are often written about and portrayed negatively.<\/p>\n \u201cI like to tell other people\u2019s stories, the story of a community.\u201d<\/p>\n Josie Osborne, director of the Art & Design First Year program in the Peck School of the Arts, met Hernandez as a high school student at a year-end exhibition at Marquette University High School.<\/p>\n She and Katie Martin-Meurer, recruitment coordinator for the Peck School of the Arts, were admiring his black and white portraits of his grandparents and other older people when they overheard him talking to a fellow student.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cI heard a passionate young man talking about issues of equity, race and immigration with a fellow student\u201d who was white and listening intently, Osborne said. \u201cJovanny was using the photographs to create an opening for important dialogue and patiently helping his peer to understand his family\u2019s experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Hernandez said he is grateful for the mentoring and encouragement he\u2019s received from faculty in the Peck School of the Arts. \u201cThey have helped me make time at 51ÁÔÆæ something special. I have had great support from teachers and professors.\u201d<\/p>\n Hernandez brought intense focus and passion to his work at 51ÁÔÆæ from the beginning, Osborne said. \u201cJovanny has made the most of co-curricular opportunities here from day one, building his resume of exhibitions, internships and jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe has been amazing to work with and to witness as an emerging artist,\u201d she added. \u201cWe are proud to have him going out into the world as a 51ÁÔÆæ alum.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jovanny Caballero Hernandez works as a photographer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and as an artist. Much of his work grows out his cultural heritage, he says. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":835,"featured_media":122040,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[],"section":[127],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[167,344,158,159,164],"class_list":["post-122035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","section-arts-humanities","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","uwmnews-feed-alumni-association","uwmnews-feed-arts-architecture","uwmnews-feed-letters-science","uwmnews-feed-humanities","uwmnews-feed-arts"],"yoast_head":"\n
Work grows out of cultural heritage<\/h3>\n
Creating an opening for dialogue<\/h3>\n