About

TONITA CERVANTES

My work focuses on the common thread that binds people together - their humanity and the dreams they have for a better life.

I am a social documentary photojournalist with a boots-on-the-ground approach. In my childhood, I was always attracted to the underdog, the invisible - perhaps because of my own overwhelming feeling of not belonging.

After years of working in Hollywood as a Casting Director and feeling spiritually unfulfilled, I walked out of the studio and picked up a camera. It was time to tell the stories of people who don’t have a voice from their point of view, rather than casting for commercial advertising and consumer products that nobody needs.

I am fascinated by the resilience and community ties that are created out of a lack of resources. Witnessing the human spirit and the will to survive against all odds is humbling.

Today the country feels like it is barreling at an accelerated pace in an unknown and dangerous direction; but prophecies from the ancestors encourage us to not give up, to have faith in the Creator, and to continue the fight for a sustainable future.

In 1877 Chief Crazy Horse of the Lakota people, a mystic and fierce warrior, had a vision:

" I see a time of seven generations, when all the colors of mankind will gather under the sacred tree of life and the whole earth will become one circle again.”

- Crazy Horse

Exhibitions:

Griffin Museum of Photography-Winchester, Boston

Strive Exhibition D’Art Center-Norfolk, VA

Jewett Gallery-San Francisco, CA

Expressions Gallery-Berkeley, CA

GearBox Gallery-Oakland, CA

Sightlife-Seattle, WA; Ethiopia; India ; Nepal