Admittance

Border regions have always been tense and contentious places. And the policies dictating their security and porousness are some of the most controversial and divisive. By August 2019 the Southern border of the United States had taken center stage. The media had fixated on the big stories. Things like detention centers and caravans became the focus. These are important but it felt like something was missing. These narratives lack intimacy. They lack honest faces. They lack truth. They tell half the story. Along the Southern border there are rattlesnakes and black bears, launch pads, and checkpoints. There is tragedy, resilience and hope. The Northern border is calm, quiet, white. It's different yet the same. Everywhere people have the same desires and the same fears. By placing North and South side by side, this work demonstrates those differences and similarities. It calls attention to the legislative hypocrisy, the shortsighted bigotry. It raises questions about what the face of an American looks like. It asks whether America is still the colossus that seeks the huddled masses. It asks whether America's ideals are dead, and if they ever existed in the first place.