To create People of the Mud, you spent three months in County Wexford, Ireland living side by side with the people of those lands. I imagine that life there is significantly different from the one in Berlin and New York City. Was this experience anything new to you or had you already had a chance to live rural life? Was there anything you weren’t prepared for?

You’ve been surrounded by a multicultural environment from the very beginning – from your Dominican family/heritage to your life in New York, to your transferring to Berlin. Throughout the years, you’ve had time to familiarise with every aspect of each culture, so why didn’t you focus your work on one you were already familiar with? What made you choose Ireland and, in particular, County Wexford?

Your book is focused on people, their identity and culture in relation to the Irish land. This connection is shown throughout the movement, whether it’s a sport, a dance, or labour. Was it your dancing career that made you especially sensitive for the human body and the beauty of its movement, or have you always seen something extraordinary in it?

People hold a significant place in your book. Men and women of different age, beauty, and with varying life stories are portrayed through your black-and-white lens. Was there anyone who impressed you the most, and whose story you would like to share?

You had the chance to know people with a different lifestyle: less loud, less fast, and yet more meaningful, more real. In the era of consumption and new technologies, these people still keep their connection to the motherland and what is truly valuable. Did living this reality change your perception of life or the way you think?

In a brief about the book, it reads that you were “struck by the intense physicality of the sport of hurling. Considered to be the fastest sport on grass, while watching slow-motion footage of hurling Rodriguez saw that within seconds the players would go through pushing, shoving, grabbing, hugging, knocking each other down and then lifting one another up.” However, the photos you took of the sport’s players weren’t taken during the game itself. Instead, you worked with them to “reform these gestures: creating sculptures out of bodies, directing and literally layering players upon one another.” Why did you decide to work like this? Were you searching for a diverse interpretation of the sport and the body itself?

People of the Mud consists of numerous shots of agricultural equipment, while people are featured in an abstract process of labour. But why a significant part of the book was dedicated to agriculture and not, for example, religion since it also identifies our past and present, and determines our daily routine and habits?

A significant part of your photography is focused on fashion. Your works have been published in major fashion magazines featuring world-known brands. Nowadays, as fashion photography is changing towards more complex ideas and focusing on storytelling, it’s less common to see a person as is. At the same time, your new book is built on showcasing people in their natural form and condition: a hurling player remains a player, a worker remains a worker. Even though an artist may masterfully merge any concepts in their artwork, do you personally prefer to create or show a person?

As a dancer with a perennial experience, do you think that a body language may tell more than words?

You’ve also been working on a project in collaboration with the International Olympic Committee. Can you tell our readers something more about it? Will it be a project dedicated to the next Olympic Games?