New Cultural Landscapes of Migration in the United States-Mexico Borderlands

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Exhibit Information

The following organizations offer information about human rights, environmental protection, migrant artifacts, and border security in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.

Coalición de Derechos Humanos
www.derechoshumanosaz.net
No More Deaths
www.nomoredeaths.org
Humane Borders
www.humaneborders.org
Samaritans
www.tucsonsamaritans.org
Defenders of Wildlife
www.defenders.org
Border Film Project
www.borderfilmproject.com
Border Stories, A Mosaic Documentary
borderstories.org
Border Action Network
borderaction.org
BorderLinks
borderlinks.org

Crossing the Mexico-US border without authorization is now a life-threatening journey. As undocumented migrants travel north, they transform the landscape in small, yet significant ways through the things they leave behind, from shelters and shrines to quotidian objects. Whether ephemeral or enduring, these landscapes invite compelling questions about the sensory dimensions of migration, the ways geopolitics, bodies, and desert lands meet.

Faith, Fencing & Fate: New Cultural Landscapes of Migration in the United States-Mexico Borderlands is an online exhibit by Juanita Sundberg, a human geographer, Michael Hyatt, a social documentary photographer, and Geoff Horner, a student and designer, aims to record and represent the new cultural landscapes of migration that result from border security policies. The exhibit, funded by The University of British Columbia, has been presented by Juanita and Michael as a gallery installation at the Liu Institute for Global Issues (April, 2010), Vancouver's Rhizome Café and ten of the photographs were included in La Frontera - The Cultural Impact of Mexican Migration, a show at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Photography which ran from October 7th to December 22nd, 2010.

Our focus is Arizona's Altar Valley, where some of the most heavily used trails are located. Through our volunteer work with No More Deaths, Samaritans, and Humane Borders, Juanita and Michael became interested in documenting how undocumented migrants interact with and inscribe the landscape with meaningful objects as well as shelters and shrines.

To Launch the exhibit, click on the ENTER link on the right-hand side of this page.

Migrants Pray at Virgin of Guadalupe Shrine - Sasabe, Mexico 2007

Sasabe is a border town in Mexico where many undocumented migrants begin their journey.

Migrant's Water Jug and Coyote Skull - Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge 2007

Many undocumented migrants traverse the vast and uninhabited Sonora Desert in hopes of crossing through undetected. To travel north through Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, undocumented migrants follow a guide.

Red Bull Can, Migrant Camp - Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge 2007

Migrants often mark the location of a camp with bandanas, water jugs or in this case the popular energy drink Red Bull. A marker also may indicate the location of a migrant's death.

Migrants' Shelter - Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge 2007

Undocumented migrants often build shelters that blend into the landscape to shield them from the sun and avoid detection by Border Patrol helicopter patrols.

Migrant's Water Jug on Fence Post - San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area 2007

Undocumented migrants often pass through protected areas like the San Pedro Riparian Conservation Area in eastern Arizona.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine Along the Migrant Trail 2007

According to recent Tohono O'odham lore, a local woman saw the Virgin of Guadalupe in this sahuaro crowned with the white blossoms of summer. The cactus quickly became a shrine. Undocumented migrants regularly visit the shrine.

Migrant's Discarded Bike and Baboquivari Peak - Altar Valley 2007

Sacred to the Tohono O'Odham nation, Baboquivari Mountain serves as an important landmark for undocumented migrants as they pass through the Altar Valley on the east side of the Baboquivari range.

Migrants' Spiritual Niche Along the Migrant Trail 2007

This shrine is set in a canyon wall along a frequently used migrant trail. Migrants adorn the shrine with photographs of their loved ones and prayer cards featuring the patron saint of their homeland.

Migrant Spiritual Niche - Close up

Along with coins, matches, candles, prayer cards, family photographs, scapularios, migrants leave cards featuring the patron saint of their homeland. Seen here are the Virgin of Guadalupe (important throughout Mexico), the Virgin of Juquila (worshiped in Oaxaca), the Virgin of San Juan de los Lagos (worshiped in Jalisco) and Toribio Romo (a priest who was martyred during the Mexican Revolution and regularly appears to distressed migrants in the desert).

Virgen Morena de Guadalupe Shirt by Highway 286 2007

The figure of the Virgin of Guadalupe, also called the Patroness of the Americas is featured on many objects migrants take on their journeys, from prayer cards, bandanas, to t-shirts.

Horseshoe Shrine - Arivaca Hills 2007

This shrine appeared in 2006 at a rest stop along a heavily used migrant trail about 30 miles north of the U.S. border. That undocumented migrants carry prayer candles such great distances is a testament to their faith.

Sour Melons Gourds & Water Carrier Made from a Sweatshirt 2007

Water is heavy and undocumented migrants often find creative ways of easing their load. The drying sour melons signal the end of the summer rains.

Shrine and Bus for Detained Migrants - Highway 286 2007

If U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehend undocumented migrants, they are turned over to Wackenhut, a private contractor who transports them to a detention center for processing. Migrants often await transport for long hours without food and water.

Water Bottle and Teddybear 2009

Children often make the journey north with family or to reunite with parents.

Vehicle Barrier - US-Mexico Border Enforcement 2008

This sweatshirt is wrapped around a vehicle barrier post that forms the southern boundary of the Tohono O'odham nation in the United States.

Brassiere - Migrant Camp, Green Valley 2007

Women's undergarments in trees may indicate sites where migrant women have been raped.

Jesús Malverde Shrine - Arivaca 2007

Jesús Malverde is the patron saint of narco-traffickers.

Shrine Frequented by Migrants - South Sierrita Mountains 2007

This shrine is located near a pickup site deep in the Sierrita Mountains.

Symbols of Immigration Debate on Border Road 1-21-08

Mexican and American water bottles and the wall authorized by Congress stand as a metaphor of conflicting views and failed immigration reform.