On Prosperity: Farah Sosa
By Sergio C. Muñoz at Intelatin, LLC. Originally published in Caló
A version of this interview was originally published in Caló
I saw the turquoise area of the above image and I was shocked. I reached out to the writer, James Rodriguez, [Mexican American, born in Texas, aged 26, living in New York City] and asked him enough questions to lead to this quote:
"The intention of our article, First-time homebuyers are 'royally screwed', is to show the challenges facing first-time homebuyers in the housing market today — those who did not benefit from skyrocketing home prices in the last few years. The rising barriers to entry in the housing market have forged a greater divide between existing home owners and prospective home buyers looking to build equity. Using the data from the National Association of Realtors, we highlight how old the typical first-time buyer is, what their race and ethnicity is, and we show how those changes over time reflect the challenges facing that person in the market."
Several Latina/os in my circle also complained to me that there was an inability for them to be six figure professionals and be able to enter the real estate market in Los Angeles as a first time homebuyer. So, I decided to create a video data library interviewing Latina/os in my circle with very specific questions about the concept of “Home.” I had no pre-arranged dialogue with the subject to see if they did or did not own a home.
Farah Sosa identifies as a photographer with an emphasis on multicultural musical landscapes. She was born in Guatemala City and has been living in Los Angeles since 2006. She currently lives in Highland Park, California.
Sergio: Please describe your childhood home
We moved a lot when I was a kid so there wasn’t a specific place that I would call my childhood home. I feel that all my homes were temporary. My dad was always building homes as he was searching for a better future for the family but they all had a few things in common: They all had my mother around shaping it to be her way in the home with my older sister and me. It was clean and full of plants. I know that there were over 100 plants because I would count them and I would do inventory on the plants. My mother was a plant mom. My dad would come and go. He would come to Los Angeles and go back to Guatemala. He would not allow art on the wall because it would damage the structure. I think that’s how we got so into placing plants everywhere. Steps, stairs, plants, very clean floors. Home looks like plants to me. All types, spiderplants, ceramic pots, tropical plants, leafy thin plants, prayer plants in elephant pots, my mother would make me water them. I had to water them along with the hundreds of other plants around them. I shared a bedroom with my sister. I don’t see it as my place, I see it as our place.
Sergio: When did you begin to fantasize about prosperity and did you tie your vision to an image of a home and what inspired your fantasy??
For my dad, prosperity was about having electronics. A nice TV, a stereo, a keyboard. I am not attached to material stuff but when I aim in that direction, I think about my dad. He made me get a flat-screen TV. That’s what makes him happy. I do not fantasize about things but I think about it as an abundance of work and in terms of physical stuff, I want the proper cameras, lenses, technology, and resources to do my work properly.
Sergio: What does your home look like present-day?
I do not own the home, it is a rental. I live alone. I live in a fourplex and gentrification was beginning when I moved here. The owners have changed along the way. It was built in 1920. I want to say it’s Victorian with a white picket fence. It’s moss green, like a deterioated sage green. It has red doors with white window frames. It's a vertical plan. When you enter the living room you see a spider chandelier, to the right is a bedroom, and after, reaching the vertical end, is an office. Back in the living room, you can make a left to the kitchen, then a corridor lands at the other end of the place with a lush patio with a wood fence around it. In the summertime the place is really hot and in the winter it's really cold.
I want to own real estate, especially when I moved to Highland Park ten years ago. I was partnered with a white man and I thought it would be easier for him to get approved for a loan. He told me explicitly that he didn’t want to own real estate and I couldn’t do it alone because I wasnt making enough money back then. I needed a partner and so it didn’t happen. I wanted a four-plex. At the time, they were about $600,000. I wanted to have an investment property so I could rent out the other units to create passive income in the future for when I am exhausted and all I want to do is take care of my plants. I inherited my mother’s green thumb but I didn’t do so on purpose, it just happened. When I am not working, the plants give me solace. I love to look at them. My love for a green space was not on purpose, it just happened and the pandemic contributed to it because when my friends moved, they would give me their plants. On my birthday, people bring me plants. My photo shoots are based on concepts around nature. I did a video shoot in my patio for a singer. I have diffusing white curtains because its more favorable for the plants. They are great props for my photo shoots.
I like the idea of investing in a property so that my green children can have a home but since my neighborhood is so unaffordable, I am now considering buying in places like Wisconsin or Kentucky but I do really like Highland Park. I’m not sure how to make my home happen in Highland Park. I recently changed my couch from a warm orange couch to a green velvet couch, to attract more money into my future.
Sergio: Is there a connection between your former fantasy and your current reality?
The only difference between my fantasy and my reality is that I don’t own the property. I do have dedicated spaces for the green plants and also for my equipment. I visualized my place today with artificial intelligence (AI) using Midjourney and Discord. It was really impressive.
Sergio: Did you identify with the the mom in Coco? (Author’s Footnote: This entire video data libary was inspired by a mainstream perception that Latinas were portrayed by Disney like the mom in Coco.)
No, I did not identify with her in any way. The grandma made me think of my madre. She looks like my madre.
#Intelatin #Latinas #Homeownership