Jezabeth Roca Gonzalez explores how social media and other digital communications allow us to connect virtually across varying degrees of distance and often in fragmented ways, fueling complicated notions of diaspora. Jezabeth’s collaged print series, titled Gringolandia, presents a selected arrangement of personal photographs made in collaboration with their brother, Joshua Roca Gonzalez, during his active duty with the Marines. Through various photographic methods of 35 mm, disposable cameras, cellphone images, and FaceTime screenshots, Joshua and Jezabeth document their family’s experience during his military enlistment. After approving their collaborative photographs for use, Jezabeth edits and arranges them into a constellation of overlapping images that vary in each presentation.

The title Gringolandia is a playful reference to the city of Rincón, Puerto Rico, recognized for its beautiful beaches but known by Puerto Ricans as a tourist enclave for gringos. It is also a personal reference and nickname made by the siblings to describe the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton (San Diego, CA) where Joshua was stationed. Jezabeth fully developed this series during the 2017 aftermath of Hurricane Maria when they had limited contact with their family on the island of Puerto Rico and used it as a way to reveal how communications infrastructures are ephemeral, fragile, and temporary while also highlighting how emotional intimacy is maintained over long distances via technology. Their work is inherently about technological communications and connections amongst families, with a critical lens towards United States militarism and exceptionalism, specifically from the vantage of the complicated relations between Puerto Rico and the United States.