“OUR SHARED HUMANITY: CULTURE, COLOR, COMMUNITY”                                         

As a child, I eagerly awaited the next issue of Life Magazine. It was my window to a larger world. Page after page beguiled me with images of people from far-off places. Though I didn’t realize it at the time, these images would steer me toward cultural anthropology pursuits in college.

During my studies, I came across The Family of Man, a book published as a companion piece to the photographic exhibit of the same name curated by Edward Steichen.

The people were fascinating. To my delight, I discovered that while I looked, dressed, and lived differently than they did, I could still recognize myself in them.

“Different, different, yet the same,” -- as the saying goes.

It is the recognition of our common humanity that drives me as a photographer. My portraits of children and adults are often chance encounters. Building on a two-way trust where the subject reveals some truth, layers of pretense are removed to reveal a private face, an authentic soul. The resulting images capture the spontaneous energy of a special moment and, like a rock thrown into a pond with ever widening circles, divulge who we are through our clothes, food, homes, buildings, use of color, and ceremonial and religious objects. I view these everyday objects and rituals as a sacred part of our being; they paint an intimate portrait of the human family.

“Same, same, yet different.”  

"Different, different, yet the same."

Leba Marquez