Category Archives: Artist Highlights

Emily Matyas: Author of Sol y Tierra

Meet Emily Matyas, a photographer and the author of the book Sol y Tierra, Sun and Earth. Emily’s work is largely inspired by her passion for family relations, culture, and psychology. Her career first started out in journalism, as she continued she found a love for fine art. 

For over 30 years,  Emily has been involved in a community development in Sonora, Mexico. Emily’s participation began in the late 1980s when she decided to volunteer for the “Flying Doctors and Dentists” from Tucson, AZ. They worked alongside a Mexican child assistance foundation or  “FAI”. For the next three years she became an employee at FAI, entrusted with writing reports for sponsors and translating grants. She was given the opportunity to travel to remote villages, sleep on burlap cots, eat tortillas made from fresh-ground corn, and learn the Spanish of the camposinos. Currently, Emily continues her involvement in Sonora and the Foundation, she does so for pleasure and admiration of the Mexican Spirit. 

Emily has crossed the border dozens of times within the last 30 years, and her photography book Sol y Tierra is an incredible representation of her investigation towards the true Mexican experience of migration.

 “As I made trips back and forth across the Mexico-U.S. border, I saw the landscape, objects, and trajectories of people’s lives change in response to economics, politics, the infiltration of a drug culture, attitudes toward immigration, and environmental challenges. According to the social workers with FAI, a large reason for migration out of rural Mexico is the intense drought that began there in the 1990s and continues still. Add cultural and economic changes that favor big business over small family farms, and one begins to understand why some people leave.” -Emily Matyas.

Art Intersection is proud to display these incredible images by Emily Matyas, and we hope they spark conversation and personal connections. The opening reception will take place on Saturday, September 28th, at 5pm.

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