Conceptual - NOMINEE: Erika Morillo

In Spanish, Umbral means gateway, a portal, the first step towards something. As I witness my son’s childhood, I often see him in that in-between space, drifting in and out of reality and the places I have imagined for him. Becoming a single mother at a young age proved frightening to me, and not for the obvious reasons. I felt a huge responsibility to create a nurturing childhood for him, different from the dysfunctional one I had lived. With these images I wanted to intervene, to somehow create a magical space that could lessen his generational baggage. With this project I aim to explore both my fantasies of what childhood should be and the freedom my son needs to live his own reality.

About author:
Erika Morillo was born and raised in Dominican Republic and moved to New York City in her early twenties. She studied Clinical Psychology and Sociology, which influenced her to photograph as a way to understand her family dynamics and the social environment she inhabits. Her photographs focus on the issues of family, inner city life and the finding of identity. Her work has been published and exhibited in the United States, Chile, Dominican Republic, Canada, Germany and Italy. She currently lives in New York City with her son Amaru.