PASO DEL NORTE
2021 - ONGOING
Since 2021, I have been watching a live streaming camera located on the Paso del Norte International Bridge, on the border between Juárez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas. For almost 20 months, the border closed for “non-essential” travel and the number of deportations to Mexico increased, using a new immigration apparatus: health security, executing the Migrant Protection Protocols and Title 42, which allows Customs and Border Protection (CBP ) to deport undocumented migrants and using as an excuse the prevention of the spread of COVID-19 in their detention facilities.
While I observe the day to day in this border, I also witness thousands of adults and children walking in the opposite direction, crossing the border to Juárez, escorted by CBP agents, many aimlessly and without personal possessions, exposed to crime in the area. On rainy days, they are seen crossing with Space Blankets to protect themselves from the weather.
With over 1,000 images, the archive shows a series of interconnected nuclei that, through images from this camera, along with other screenshots, seeks to question the official narratives that are presented to us and the way in which we interact with migration as global beings, considering a deep and critical reading of the public policies of both countries.
In the last months of the project, I have been documenting my own border crossings, taking with me different objects and clothing that fuel the discussion of what happens in this space. From fast food uniforms, piñatas made of space blankets, t-shirts with American flags and others that change the word NASA to "RAZA" (Race).
