If you want to understand the world, get closer. Bryan Stevenson, of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of Just Mercy, talks about the importance of proximity as we try to grasp the nuanced realities of life. “If you are willing to get closer to people who are suffering,” Stevenson says, “you will find the power to change the world.” We have spent the last … Continue reading Proximity
Alvaro Enciso has been placing crosses in the Sonoran Desert for seven years to mark the sites where migrants have died on their journey into the United States. His goal is make the invisible visible, to honor the lives lost, and to point his finger at the policies that lead to unnecessary deaths. A Colombian immigrant himself, he finds that his land art project connects … Continue reading Alvaro Enciso
Last week we set up a studio at a plaza in Nogales, Arizona, about a block away from the border wall. We asked people, “How has the wall impacted you?” The first person to stop by was Claudia. She was from Mexico, but had her U.S. residency and lived and worked in Nogales, Arizona. She had married Emanuel three years ago and his immigration process … Continue reading A simple question
Tony Sedgwick is the President of the Board for the Santa Fe Ranch Foundation, a working cattle ranch near Nogales, Arizona and just a few miles north of the U.S. border with Mexico. With a background in international business law, Tony offers a sweeping view of history and economics of the borderlands and sees a need to shift our international policies away from fear and … Continue reading Tony Sedgwick
“There’s a good chance you’re going to think I’m nuts,” I said to the Border Patrol agent as I walked up to his SUV, parked at the top of a hill, facing south toward the border wall on the edge of Nogales, Arizona. I’d been photographing along the wall, the rusted steel bollards thrust 20 feet toward the sky, cascading coils of concertina wire hanging … Continue reading Peace at the border
The day didn’t go quite the way we had planned. I was with India Aubry of Voices from the Border and we were crossing into Nogales, Sonora, Mexico to interview Pancho, a street nurse who cares for migrants waiting south of the border for asylum hearings. We had directions and our plan was to meet Pancho at one of the migrant shelters to see his … Continue reading Both sides
