My first job was at the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Colombia in 2010. As an intern, I assisted senior lawyers in interviewing refugee applicants. At the time, Colombia had few asylum seekers from abroad; the agency’s core mission was to assist the millions of internally displaced people affected by the country’s armed conflict.

One applicant marked me. He was a Cuban doctor, likely in his early thirties, who had been sent on a government mission to Venezuela. Many Cuban doctors saw such missions as an opportunity to escape to neighboring countries. His case was complex—legally navigating the fine line between being deemed an economic migrant or someone politically persecuted. In Cuba, he had secretly provided medical aid to queer individuals, a humanitarian act that led to his persecution by the government. I remember conducting multiple interviews, piecing together his story, and researching international legal precedents on how belonging to a minority group could qualify someone for asylum. At the time, few cases had established such protections. After extensive fact-finding, legal research, and negotiation, the Colombian government granted him refugee status.

That moment shifted something in me. It was the first time I saw the tangible impact of my work—not as an abstract pursuit of justice, but as a means of profoundly changing someone’s life. This experience shaped my path as a human rights lawyer, driving me into the intersection of litigation, legal theory, and global policy. As my career evolved onto the international stage, I began working alongside communication experts who exposed me to the power of visual storytelling in human rights advocacy. I learned to navigate the intersection of aesthetics and impact—not romanticizing suffering, but understanding how documentary imagery could stir emotions, drive action, and give dignity to stories often overlooked.

This is why Untold matters to me as an artist. It is the manifestation that my work extends beyond aesthetics; it carries a purpose. Art has the power to move souls, to transcend mere observation and become a catalyst for change. Some might call this idealistic. Perhaps it is. But life is too short to be purely pragmatic—I’d rather be moved by those who dream of unrealistic causes that uplift humanity than be indifferent to the world around me.

Untold is a photographic journey through the unseen, the silenced, and the extraordinary within the ordinary. By using vernacular photography, Untold aligns with a global movement that recognizes the power of everyday imagery to disrupt conventional narratives. The work reveals the human experience across cultures, religions, races, disabilities, and social classes, exposing the beauty found in fleeting moments that might otherwise go unnoticed.

These photographs do not merely document—they invite reflection, challenge perceptions, and encourage us to see beyond difference, into the shared humanity that binds us all.

By engaging with these diverse human experiences, Untold aspires not only to raise awareness but to inspire a collective commitment to a more just and inclusive world. It invites both art experts and the public to recognize photography as a powerful instrument of social change, proving that beauty is not merely aesthetic—it is a force that compels us to witness, to feel, and, ultimately, to act. Untold extends an open invitation to those who believe in the transformative power of art to shape a better future.