Jasmin Mara López

New Orleans, LA

Jasmin Mara López is a journalist, audio producer, and filmmaker based in New Orleans, LA. Born in the U.S. with familial roots in Mexico, her childhood was affected by issues experienced on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. This instilled in her a strong passion for immigrant rights, youth empowerment, and social change. In 2007, López founded Project Luz, a project that teaches youth in Mexico to document stories within their communities. In 2015, she was awarded the Society of Professional Journalists’s Excellence in Journalism Award for her documentary Deadly Divide: Migrant Death on the Border. She teaches radio to youth in Nezahualcóyotl and Coxcatlán, Mexico. In addition to receiving support from Creative Capital, Silent Beauty was awarded the 2019 Artist Residency and Fellowship at Ragdale, where López developed the installation and shared her process with local schools in the Chicago area. Silent Beauty was also accepted into the Chicken & Egg Pictures Accelerator Lab.

From the Journal

Jasmín Mara López’s Artist Diary: Silent Beauty August 3, 2022

Still from the film, Silent Beauty. Photo: Bron Moyi.

Image: Jasmín Mara López

Held by my mother Sandra in our family home in Baja California. Film still: Super 8 footage from Silent Beauty, courtesy Jasmín Mara López

Photo: Jasmín Mara López

VHS footage from Silent Beauty, my sister Sara sings karaoke in 1994. Film still: courtesy Jasmín Mara López

Sandra stands at the sea. Film still: Silent Beauty courtesy Jasmín Mara López

Photo: Jasmín Mara López

Image: courtesy Jasmín Mara López

Photo: Jasmín Mara López

Image: courtesy Jasmín Mara López

Photo: Jasmín Mara López

Still from the film, Silent Beauty. Photo: Bron Moyi.

Trailer for the film Silent Beauty.

Silent Beauty

Jasmin Mara López is a journalist, audio producer, and filmmaker based in New Orleans, LA, with familial roots in Mexico.

Artist Bio

Silent Beauty is a personal documentary about Jasmin López’s family’s history with child sexual abuse and a culture of silence. The work extends as an audio-visual installation that features the voices of dozens of survivors—adults and older children with parents—that have reached out to the artist to share their stories.

Silent Beauty premiered virtually and in-person at BlackStar Film Festival on August 5, 2022, an annual celebration of the visual and storytelling traditions of the African diaspora and of global Indigenous communities, showcasing films by Black, Brown and Indigenous artists from around the world.