Like Soil, We Drift

★  by Devin Kasparian ★

In the form of a multimedia photo series, I ask the question why we cannot exist like the soil, drifting back and forth across manmade borders.

After spending time in Tuscon, Arizona, as well as Nogales, Mexico, interacting with people and various perspectives of the current migration crisis, I couldn’t help but contemplate the complexities that have developed within a very broken, very unjust immigration system. We watched dogs run underneath the border fence, crossing from Mexico to American soil, sniffing our shoes, and then crossing back over to their owners on the other side. For migrants from Mexico, it is not so easy – this artificial border splitting what was once one singular land has been the cause of wars, murders, endless suffering, and extreme polarized political conflict.

“We watched dogs run underneath the border fence, crossing from Mexico to American soil, sniffing our shoes, and then crossing back.”

My multimedia series explores these subjects, commenting on the journey of migrants, the militarized and highly surveilled state of the border, the people who live amongst the border wall everyday, and the idea that walls and boundaries cannot stop the travel of soil, and — like ever-changing natural land — cannot stop the travel of the people. I have incorporated soil which has constantly drifted back and forth between the porous fences and walls of the US/Mexico border for centuries into the series, as a visual framing and messaging device, for photos I shot on 35 millimeter film.