Thalia Gochez is a Salvadoran Mexican American from Los Angeles. A self-taught photographer where most of her inspiration comes from her Latinx heritage, upbringing and background in fashion. It’s important to make her photographs not only story tell a person’s cultural identity but creating a safe space for them to express themselves creatively.

Through taking fashion styling classes, she found her foot into photography when she collaborated with a photographer. Shortly after she bought a $1 camera at a flea market and instantly began capturing shots of BIPOC womxn. In an interview with It’s Nice That she explained “whether it’s how someone is standing at a bus stop or how a lady who works at the grocery store did her hair”. Constantly inspired to show the beauty of people and culture, Thalia’s images shows and tells the visual story of the people in her community.

Artsy: Thalia Gochez — *Every Worry Melts Away (Naomi Rodriguez and Grace Sanabria), San Francisco*, 2019 by Thalia Gochez / sold at Artsy

In 2018, Gochez collaborated with Nike for their All For 1 photo campaign to celebrate local heroes in connection with the brand’s iconic Air Force 1’s sneakers. Then in 2019, advertising agency The New Company hired Gochez to shoot the Nike Air Max 720 Campaign.

Since then she has worked for publications Teen Vogue, The Cut to brands such as Converse, Yitty and Rare Beauty and was featured in The New York Times.

It’s through building a persona bond with her subjects that Gochez is able to capture a raw authenticity in her images. There’s no artificial studio lighting, instead focusing on the person, the moment and their surrounding.