ICP Teen Academy

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Fabian Peña



My project is about machismo and its problematic ideology within the Hispanic community. The goal of my project is to show how machismo affects young children by going after the roots of the problem, child abuse and generational trauma. Additionally, I want to highlight problems with machismo in relationships, hoping to get victims of this abuse to speak up and break the normality of machismo after seeing my work. I want these “macho men” to look at my work and reflect on themselves, hoping they can realize the damage they’ve done and how much it affects their loved ones, and how this ideology affected them as a child.

Machismo is under the umbrella term misogyny. What makes it a little different is just the fact that it’s more commonly seen in the Hispanic community. There are different levels and extremes of misogynistic ideals; it’s seen in all ages and genders. What makes machismo dangerous is its normality; machismo is in the household and it’s backed up and supported by a huge community. My goal is to open my community's eyes, to get them to understand that any kind of abuse is amoral and horrible. Machismo is a never ending cycle that poisons our youth. I hope I can reach kids my age to reject or unlearn these harmful values to better the safety of our future children and loved ones.

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Fabian Peña is a first generation Mexican-American photographer from the Bronx. He grew up on Fordham Road, where he first started his photography journey in middle school. He pursued photography when he entered the High School of Fashion Industries, working with both film and digital photography. He’s currently a student at the International Center of Photography and does street photography, primarily in Manhattan. Inspired by photographers like Devin Allen and Roy Baizan, Fabian’s goal is to amplify unheard voices and to use his photography as a tool for change to create a better and safer society.