This gallery is part of an ongoing project on Puerto Rican cemeteries that I began aproximately twenty years ago. Some were photographed with an old 4X5 camera, a Mamiya 220, a Nikon FM2n and more recently with a Canon 1D II and a Canon 7d. Cemeteries in Puerto Rico and in Latin America have a significance that goes beyond being graves, they are colorful monuments that express something about the deceased and about the family that has been left behind. The old cemetery in Mayaguez rests on a hill looking over Calle Post (Post Street). Plots rest tightly together and in some instances graves have overpowered and covered earlier graves. It's an evolving place, there are graves from the very wealthy, the poor, the forgotten and the barely remembered. It is a testament to the absolute, to the finality of who and what we are.
This series has a special significance for me as it renewed the project with my father, Jaime Carrero passing away on January 26. He is buried at this cemetery in the family plot. He was a painter, novelist, playwright and professor at the Inter American University in San German Puerto Rico. In many ways this particular series is a homage to him, a testament to his memory and a goodbye gift since it was because of him that I decided to become a photographer many years ago. Buen viaje viejo.
