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Rubén Henríquez, has launched the www.HelpRuben.com project; the young artist is asking his community to buy his work and donate so he can pay for his college tuition.
El Alto is full of hustlers. Allow me to introduce you to a new kind of Uptown hustle. It’s a hustle where you push yourself to do what you love. It’s the pursuit of passion in the face of adversity; it’s a dedication to your craft, your mission, and your beliefs. It’s putting words to action, and believing in your talents, because when you’re in El Alto, you have to hustle.
I met with Rubén Henríquez, El Alto hustler extraordinaire.
Only 22 years old, raised on West 161st Street and Riverside Drive, Rubén, of Dominican descent, is a quiet, poised young man with a talent for impressive photography.
Rubén recently received news that he has been accepted into the School of Visual Arts, and has launched a campaign asking his very own community in El Alto to help him finance his college education. That’s the hustle I speak of, because there’s no shame, “ask and you shall receive,” goes the saying, and Ruben has been hard at work.
Ruben is the youngest of five brothers, and has decided to lead by example. Growing up, he could have chosen a life of easy money. But Ruben made a conscious choice to work for what he wanted. “I’m a firm believer that you have the choice to make the road you walk on,” he says.
He first picked up a camera a few years ago when he was pursuing his digital design degree at Hostos Community college. After being told he had a “good eye,” Ruben saved enough money to buy himself a professional camera. After spending some time shooting family parties, family trips to Dominican Republic, and doing photo shoots with friends, Rubén started realized that if he continued to perfect his skills through practice, he could eventually begin to profit from his work.
“After getting my first paid photo gig, I decided to put all my energy into this, just doing what I love,” he said. Soon enough, Rubén gave up his job in the retail, and embarked on a journey that has made his work flourish in the last three years.
Although he photographs all kinds of events, his real passion and specialty is to capture the texture and patterns in every day objects through abstract composition. The roughness of the pavement up against the delicateness of a rose, the furry blue material that covers MTA buses’ chairs all in a row, the yellow steel structure of a “Walk/Don’t Walk” sign, are only some of the striking images available for purchase through the “Help Rubén” project. All purchases and donations will be put towards the 30 thousand-dollar tuition at the School of Visual Arts where Rubén is hoping to study and perfect his craft through formal training.
“A writer would not be able to tell a story through one word, nor would a composer be able to create a symphony with one note. I am, however, able to create an entire world through one captured moment of time,” he says describing his work.
Hoping to make a social statement which Rubén believes “should be implemented,” he has also created the “Young’n, pull your pants up” shirt. A simple, but direct message that addresses the need to be conscious about looking professional, grown up, and well put together. “If you’re a grown man, maybe it’s just time to pull your pants up,” he said. Taking that message and emblazoning it on t-shirts has given him just another piece of merchandise to add to the “Help Rubén” project.
When I asked Rubén’s mother, Mrs. Ledy Henríquez, to tell me something about her son, she smiled proudly, with maternal warmth. “He’s always been a hard worker, and now he wants people to help him make his dream come true. I think that’s respectable.”
Rubén was born in the back of a cab right in front of New York Presbyterian Hospital. His mother didn’t make it to the hospital but brought him to the world in the frenzy of city streets.
The streets of El Alto have raised and shaped him, and maybe it’s the time for us to stand up for Rubén, a son of El Alto chasing a dream.
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