Persona Grata By: Anastasia Maldonado Copyright©2007 Anastasia Maldonado

Artistic Statement Born in 1990 and raised in diverse settings, I sometimes come across the self appointed questions, “Who am I? Who are people? Is everybody what they seem to be? Why is there so much segregation? And are we all so different in the end?” It must have been grade school when the subject was brought to my realization that not everybody likes to hang out together and most people don’t want to try. In creating this body of work I hope to expose my generation to the life styles and hobbies of different people that you may have never even looked twice at and inspire you to take chances in realizing that we all aren’t so different in the end. Passing up opportunities in life to meet strangers means your passing up peers, possible best friends, possible companions and shoulders to lean on. It is up to us to start the new tradition of being open minded and change paths for future generations.

I Pod Copyright©2007Anastasia Maldonado

Habit Copyright©2007Anastasia Maldonado

Trade Copyright©2007Anastasia Maldonado

School Copyright©2007Anastasia Maldonado

Faith

Expression Copyright©2007Anastasia Maldonado

Fisheye Copyright©2007Anastasia Maldonado

Movies Copyright©2007Anastasia Maldonado

Biography I was born to a young couple. Both my mom and dad were always very social and open minded, raising me to be the same. My dad was a very social, bilingual and musically talented person so it was inevitable that I would be exposed to different forms of art. At the age of fourteen I spent six months living in Mexico. There I learned to speak Spanish, ride horses and develop pictures. My family owned a cosmetics store, a sports store, and a picture developing store. My eyes became more open to the world of photography, but not in an artistic form. From Mexico, I moved to a different state in the US, where I attended a coed boarding school and turned fifteen. After completing my freshman year there I returned to San Diego and began my sophomore year here at CCA. After the summer of 2005 I enrolled in Digital Photography class. Along with other art classes, it helped expand my knowledge to the arts, and also improved my technique. I plan on pursuing my interest in digital photography as an outside activity to do in my spare time. Hopefully one day I will also learn more about film photography. By 2008 I plan on attending an arts college and carrying out a career in design and architecture.