By Alicia Michele Benjamin
José G. Vázquez has lived in the Unites States for almost 30 years, and during that time, he said he’s visited most of the major cities in the country and some small towns in between. As a visual artist and poet, those American spaces have greatly influenced his work, he said.
“From San Diego to Boston, Seattle to Miami, and any point in between, I’ve been there,” Vázquez said. He prefers to drive so that he can see all the small differences, sights and people that give him inspiration, he added.
In September, Vázquez will show a photography exhibit at the VAPA Center on North Tryon Street in Charlotte called “Past Tense” that will include photographs he’s taken as he’s traveled the country.
During his travels, Vázquez said he intentionally avoided the interstate and intrastate highways. “I wanted to take the back roads, you know, the country roads,” he said. That’s how he found unusual, abandoned houses and decaying buildings that made such intriguing photographs, he added.
“Like I’m driving, and I see something I feel attracted to.” He said the abandoned homes ignited his curiosity. “I wondered, ‘What was going on when that house was finished?’ You see, it’s been abandoned for maybe decades. It’s falling apart and trees are coming out of the windows,” he said.
“I cannot help but wonder when they put the last nail on that house, you know, and it was finished — how everything looked around it, what were the hopes and dreams the family that inhabited that house had, and where they are now,” Vázquez said.
“The old houses, old buildings, old downtowns, you know, pretty much are like ghost towns now, you know. And I can’t help but stop and take a few photographs of those places, he said.” He also creates art using salvaged and found material. He said he believes “things, just like people, deserve a second chance.”
Vázquez’s work – poetry, photographs and mixed media art — has been shown at various outlets in the country including art galleries, universities, museums and public libraries. Locally, his work has been featured at the Mint Museum, the VAPA Center, Johnson C. Smith University, the Levine Museum and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
He is a member of MAS + arte,a group he co-founded with artists from Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina and El Salvador to promote and support creative efforts of artists in the Charlotte area. He is also a member of OBRA Collective, a group of Latino/Latina interdisciplinary artists that offer educational programs and exhibitions and support for Latinx artists.
In 2018, he published a book of photography and poetry called “Icaro Vuela de Noche” (Icarus Flies by Night), and he also wrote “Escondida: Poemas Breves Para Virginia” (Hidden: Brief Poems for Virgina), a book of poems to an imaginary girlfriend named Virginia.
In May 2025, he led a Papalote (kite) workshop at the VAPA Center for people of all ages. The youngest participant was 5 years old and the old was 75. “Traditional Papalote making is a cherished cultural practice in Mexico,” Vázquez said. It was a great opportunity to spend quality time with family while learning about cultural traditions and craftsmanship, he said. Items used to make the kite include paper, string, bamboo, plastic bags, scissors, tape or glue, and coloring materials like crayons or markers.
Vázquez said he’s going to teach the workshop participants to make the kites the way he made them when he was six or seven years old. Papalote making brings back fond memories of his childhood in Mexico.
“You know, there was a big field across on the other side of the street where I grew up,” he said. “Yeah, and that was so cool. For me, it was amazing to build something and then see it in the sky, you know, flying up there. It was like, “Oh, I built that! That was incredible for me.”