Exploring the idea of being a woman in my art comes naturally-from myself, my daily life as a woman and a mother, from my sisters, and from my female friends. Migration is also ever-present in my life because I and so many of the people I know and love are also immigrants, including my father, some of my friends, my adoptive family, though sometimes being an immigrant feels more like a transverse axis-far less natural.

As migration is so important to me, I tried to tackle it in the most direct way I could. That's why, for "People in Their Place," I focused on portraits of Nicaraguan women living and working in Costa Rica as domestic help. In Costa Rica today, almost one quarter the population are migrants, most of them women, heads of families and homemakers, and of these migrants, more than half are from Nicaragua, where environmental disasters and lack of jobs leads people to leave their country in search of work.

In "People in Their Place," three themes converge: woman, migration, and domestic spaces. Creating these images enriched me profoundly, because of the link and the relationship that is created by sharing one's time. I met very brave women who had dared to cross the border, compelled by the desire for something better for themselves, but even more so for the love of those they left behind.

In "People in Their Place," the subjects take ownership of their work spaces, wearing their best clothes and posing in their boss' home. Although some may look confident, little signals suggest their discomfort during the act of making the portrait-their hands or facial expressions are particularly expressive.

EDITORIAL NOTES

For the past few decades, a steady stream of Nicaraguans who want to escape economic troubles and natural disasters have immigrated to Costa Rica, often illegally. Men and women from Nicaragua can easily cross the 192-mile Nicaragua-Costa Rica border, which is almost entirely unguarded, to work in Costa Rica as "unskilled laborers"-frequently, for women, in domestic work, and for men in agricultural work.

Of the 4.5 million people who live in Costa Rica, approximately 400,000-almost ten percent-are Nicaraguan immigrants. Since the average national income in Costa Rica is six times higher than in Nicaragua, the number of immigrants rises sharply in times of economic crisis.

Immigration from Nicaragua has become a matter of national concern for Costa Rica. Many Nicaraguan immigrants face discrimination or, since they often work illegally, unsafe or exploitative working conditions. However, several organizations have been created in Costa Rica to assist Nicaraguan immigrants, such as La Asociación de Miskitos Nicaraguenses en Costa Rica (AMIRCOR) and La Asociación de Trabajadoras Domésticas (ASTRADOMES).

Despite discrimination and xenophobia, some experts believe that the influx of Nicaraguan immigrants to Costa Rica-particularly women immigrants-is a leading factor in the country's economic growth: Nicaraguan women are hired to perform domestic work and childcare previously done by Costa Rican women. Thus, thousands of middle class Costa Rican women have been able to enter the paid job market to work in the country's growing export trade and tourism industries. 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Roxana Nagygeller holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Photography from the Veritas University of Costa Rica and graduated in Photographic Arts and Sciences from the Alajuela College also in Costa Rica. She has taught Photography in various centers and universities in the country and has also written in this field.