Photographer Page

Tamara Merino

Photographer Tamara Merino took this self-portrait with her son Ikal on the first day of total isolation in Santiago, Chile. “The confinement feels stronger and more overwhelming when someone imposes it on you,” she wrote. “When we have freedom over our actions, and we decide to stay home, we still feel free. Not anymore.”

"Be humble, real and honest when photographing and always tell the stories in an intimate and honest way. Photography is a journey, an exploration towards our unconscious, a tool of self-knowledge and personal exploration that allows us to be children again, because it gives us the ability to be amazed. For this reason, always be open and never have preconceptions or judgmental because the only thing that connects us to the people and the stories we tell is the capacity to wonder and the openness of our heart." Tamara Merino

Two children sleep on the Gateway to the Americas International Bridge, waiting to be heard on their asylum requests. Migrants often wait days on the bridge to speak with a U.S. officer about their case.

Mbacke, who lives in the caves for economic reasons, smokes tobacco inside his home.

Malik, a Senegalese immigrant, looks at an image he's hung on the wall of his cave in the hills of Sacromonte.

Sergine Mourtalla Mbacke, a Senegalese immigrant, looks out over the city of Granada and the Alhambra palace, once the royal court of Ferdinand and Isabella.

Two women dance flamenco in the caves of Sacromonte. The traditional Spanish dance was born in the region more than 500 years ago and community members continue to perform every night in the caves.

Lights shine inside the cave where flamenco dancers perform every evening. A similar dance was a wedding tradition for the gitano community but was banned in the 16th century. Dancers continued performing in secret and the residents of the Sacromonte shaped the dance into the flamenco that's performed today.

A priest leads a service in Nuestra Señora de Gracia, an underground Catholic Church in Guadix. An image of the "Patronness of the Caves" sits inside the sanctuary, which has existed since the 16th century.

Children play in abandoned caves next to their own cave home. In the past, every cave was occupied, but there are now multiple empty residences in their village.