Sleepy and his Daughter, South Valley, New Mexico

In the series “Barrios de Nuevo México: Southwest Stories of Vindication,” Frank Blazquez chronicles how a national health crisis of dependency on narcotics is playing out in New Mexico, specifically among the Latinx population of the state’s largest city. Blazquez captures the humanity of survivors of addiction and incarceration, making portraits of them as they seek to a path forward and rejoin their communities. This photograph of Sleepy with his young daughter was taken at his home in Albuquerque’s South Valley, showing him flashing the hand sign for the New Mexico prison gang Los Padillas. Building a new future, Sleepy worked as a barber and on improving his skills as a rapper prior to his death in 2022.