Southwest Land Border

December 2021

Southwest Land Border observes migrants and asylum seekers at the United States–Mexico border, photographed over time across multiple states. The work follows individuals before, during, and after crossing as they move through surveillance, detention, and waiting, revealing the physical and emotional conditions faced by those attempting to enter the United States.

Photographed from the perspective of a Jamaican immigrant, the project is shaped by proximity and lived experience of migration. The images move from border crossings to encounters with enforcement and temporary holding spaces, showing people navigating the border enforcement and immigration process that shapes movement, immigration status, and whether they are released, detained, or removed.

Asylum seeking migrant woman carrying a child walking along foggy railroad tracks at the southwest land border, with a police car trailing in the background.
Two U.S. Border Patrol agents wearing uniforms and face masks talking to asylum seeking woman and a child at the Mexico / U.S. border wall.
Migrant girl at shelter with two hands pressed against a scratched glass window with a car visible in the background.
Silhouette of two Mexican coyotes paddling a canoe on a river in Roma, Texas at sunset with trees in the background.
Two individuals climbing Mexico / U.S. border wall in Sunland Park, NM using a rope ladder, set against a desert landscape in black and white.
Asylum seeking migrants wading through Rio Grande river in Del Rio, Texas with reeds on the sides, in a misty outdoor setting. A child is carried on an adult's shoulders in the foreground.
Military personnel assisting an asylum seeking woman and her baby over a barbed wire fence after she crossed the Rio Grande river in Del Rio, Texas.
Migrant carrying a child while walking along a sidewalk next to a chain-link fence on a foggy day in La Joya, TX.
Asylum seeking migrants sitting on the ground after crossing the Mexico southwest land border into the U.S.
A black and white photo of a border patrol officer walking with a migrant in custody by the Mexico / U.S. Border wall in Sunland Park, NM.
Group of asylum seeking migrants seated on the ground at night, some wearing masks, with two border patrol officers standing nearby in Roma, Texas.
Black and white photo of a border patrol van with a barred window, a migrant wearing a face mask in the backseat, and a masked border patrol officer driver.
Border patrol agent riding an ATV patrolling the Mexico / U.S. Border wall in Sasabe, Arizona.
Monochrome landscape of a dry, cracked farmland with young plants growing in rows. Overcast sky and the Mexico / U.S. Border wall in the background.
A migrant with short hair wearing a dark jacket, standing in a field of tall grass, viewed from behind, in black and white at the southwest land border.