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Below you can compare and contrast the different points of view on the border between the United States and Mexico. Images on the left were made by government photographers for the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, and are published online on Flickr. Images on the right are by Spanish documentary photographer and visual journalist Griselda San Martin. |
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U.S. Customs and Border PatrolPhotographs from the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, 2018-200.
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Griselda San MartinFriendship Park, at the juncture of San Diego, California and Tijuana, Mexico, 2020. © Griselda San Martin
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At the juncture of San Diego, California, and Tijuana, Mexico, the border wall’s rusting steel bars plunge into the sand, extending 300 feet into the Pacific ocean and casting a long and conflicting shadow.
The Wall is a documentary project about “Friendship Park,” a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border where families meet to share intimate moments through the metal fence that separates them. Physical borders create symbolic boundaries that reinforce the rhetoric of “us versus them,” in which immigrants are seen as a threat to traditional narratives ingrained in various communities across America. The existence of these fences illustrates anti-immigrant sentiment, legitimizing exclusionary practices and justifying harsh government action. Once erected, they become enduring, permanent features of the geopolitical landscape—and a powerful, aggressive reminder to immigrants that they don’t belong. By calling attention to the human interactions at Friendship Park, where families visit with and speak with one another through a metal fence, I attempt to neutralize what this wall was built to create: Separation. My goal is to transform the discourse on border security into a conversation about immigrant visibility, addressing audiences on both sides of the wall by challenging popular assumptions or by reminding them that they are seen, heard and that they matter. |
En el límite entre San Diego, California y Tijuana, México, los barrotes oxidados del muro fronterizo se adentran en el océano Pacífico reflejando una larga y no menos polémica sombra en la arena de la playa.
El Muro es un proyecto documental sobre el Parque de la Amistad, un tramo de la frontera Estados Unidos y México donde familias divididas por leyes migratorias se reúnen para compartir momentos con sus seres queridos a través de la valla que los separa Las fronteras físicas crean divisiones simbólicas que refuerzan la dicotomía del "nosotros contra ellos," en la que los migrantes son percibidos como una amenaza a las narrativas tradicionales arraigadas en varias comunidades de Estados Unidos. La existencia de estas vallas ilustra el sentimiento antiinmigrante, legitima las prácticas de exclusión y justifica las duras acciones del gobierno. Una vez construidos, se convierten en características permanentes del paisaje geopolítico, así como un crudo recordatorio a los migrantes de que no pertenecen a ese país. Mostrando y enfatizando las relaciones humanas y las interacciones a través del muro en la frontera, pretendo contrarrestar la finalidad con la que la barda fue construida: separar. Mi objetivo es transformar el discurso sobre seguridad fronteriza en una conversación sobre la visibilidad de los migrantes para desafiar los prejuicios y estereotipos y poner de manifiesto la existencia, complejidad y relevancia del fenómeno migratorio. |
Griselda San Martin's short film, The Other Side, tells the story of José and Susanna, a father and daughter separated by deportation and immigration status.
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