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To My Future, Non-Existent Children

Cristóbal Ayala Roche

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Designer and creative from Monterrey, Mexico. I received my academic and personal formation in the US, Mexico, India and the UK, most recently completing my bachelors in Graphic Communication Design at Central Saint Martins in University of the Arts London in 2024.

Co-founder of Sin Tesis Studio (@sin__tesis), a creative studio with a focus on branding, creative consulting and art direction.

Avid reader, photographer and explorer of human potential.

Designer and creative from Monterrey, Mexico. I received my academic and personal formation in th...

To My Future, Non-Existent Children is an investigative and self-ethnographic publication dealing with the theme of family legacy through a queer perspective, asking the reader what it is that we are leaving for future generations. Born out of the observation that there is an ever-growing percentage of the population that identifies as LGBT+ and that this will inevitably lead to new models of the family unit, this project poses the question of whether I, a homosexual Mexican man, will ever even be able to have children: Be it because of political, social, financial, personal or even ecological reasons. This publication deals with these respective matters, all addressed to my non-existent child, an elusive, ever out-of-reach and mysterious figure, as I grapple with the cultural impetus in Mexico that encourages child-rearing as the ultimate accomplishment, contrasting with my ambivalent feelings towards the subject. Child rearing is a deeply personal matter, but it is my intent that this publication serve as a reference point and conversation starter for queer individuals to explore their relationship to legacy and the family unit. 

The project is composed of four parts:

1) Personal letters addressed to the future, touching on my individual feelings regarding the future,

2) Letters from others addressed to their future children, which showcase the many hopes and fears of Gen Z and Millenials in 2024,

3) A collection of interviews between myself and members of the LGBT community, and

4) A compendium of resources and articles relating to LGBT parenthood, surrogacy, adoption and more. 

To My Future, Non-Existent Children aims to serve as a medium and platform for the oftentimes overlooked topic of LGBT family to come to the light, and grapple with the complex and thorny issues that come with it. The impact of climate change on the quality of life of our future generations (Soloski, 2024), the ethics of surrogacy (García, 2023), the stigma of adoption (Culhane, 2017); these are all tough questions that straight couples might get to ignore, but all queer parents have to deal with this moral maelstrom. Ultimately, “we’ll all have to account for how well we parent our children—no matter their origin, and no matter what we think about the various ways we create our families” (Culhane, 2017), and this will determine the quality of our future for generations to come. 

I invite the reader to interact with this publication with open-minded inquiry, curiosity and open-mindedness. Regardless if you want to have children or not (a topic which I myself do not know, and thankfully have much time to think about!), the question of whether we are creating the world we want future generations to enjoy is an important one. What would you like for the next generation to understand about 2024? What will be gone? What will remain?

Final work

  • 9 different spreads on each image showing the different interviews, writings and photographs
  • 9 different spreads on each image showing the different interviews, writings and photographs
  • 9 different spreads on each image showing the different interviews, writings and photographs
  • Cover of the publication & side view
  • Side view of the publication and three open spreads
  • Close up of the stitching and binding of the publication
Animation of the different photographs and quotes found in the publication

Research and process

Scans of different letters people have addressed to the future.
Different images gathered for the archive of 21st century queer & LGBT+ representation in popular media.

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To My Future, Non-Existent Children

To My Future, Non-Existent Children is an investigative and self-ethnographic publication dealing with the theme of family legacy through a queer perspective, asking the reader what it is that we are leaving for future generations. Born out of the observation that there is an ...

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