A Haitian refugee shows her frustration at not being able to reach her destination.
With all the attention on the detention centers on the border, U.S. media rarely if ever acknowledges that camps of migrants and displaced people exist all over Mexico. In documenting the impact of U.S. border policy on Mexico, I took these photographs in a settlement of Haitian migrants, who had been living for a month in Giordano Bruno Plaza in Colonia Juarez, in downtown Mexico City.
Over a hundred families were heading for the border after a long journey from Haiti when they realized that they would not be able to cross, or that if they tried and were unsuccessful in getting asylum (since hardly any Haitians do) they would be deported back to Haiti. In May alone over 4000 Haitians were put on the deportation planes by the U.S. government.
The Mexican government and the government of the city provide some minimal services to the Haitians, who were debating whether they should stay in Mexico. There is a process, albeit cumbersome, in which they can apply for permission to stay and work.
Next to the Haitian encampment is a planton, or occupy-style protest camp, set up by Otomi indigenous people and the association "United for Farmer and Indigenous Rights." Some years before they had occupied an abandoned building and then were expelled. Refusing to leave they began living on the sidewalk outside, demanding decent housing and protesting gentrification. Their long-established camp provided the Haitians a place to wash.
The neighborhood authorities who maintain the plaza have painted on a wall behind the migrant tents, "Amor es el vinculo de vinculos" or "Love is the bond of all bonds." It is an ironic statement, given the world's (and especially the US') hostility to migrants, but it is also a statement that the people of this neighborhood have given them the use of their neighborhood park as a place to rest.
The statement itself comes from Giordano Bruno, a revolutionary monk of the early Renaissance, burned at the stake in Rome's Piazza de Fiori in 1600 for asserting that the earth was not the center of the universe. He is considered a hero of scientific and free thought. Bruno spent most of his life as a migrant and refugee, much like the Haitians, fleeing the Inquisition, before he was finally captured. Bruno's statement of his mystical vision refers to the chapter in the Bible, Colossians 3:14: "And above all these things, clothe yourselves with love, which is the bond of unity."
Returning a few weeks later, I found most of the Haitians had left. According to Josias Termot, they'd gone to the border, and some had been able to cross. Others were now living in the Casa del Migrante, a refugee shelter managed by the Cuauhtemoc local government a few blocks away. Many were without work, however, and during the day returned to the plaza to hang out with a new group of migrants from Venezuela, who'd just arrived.
Gina washes clothes in a bucket.
Berlande cooks for her family.
Neika is just trying to live as normal a life as she can on the road.
Fabienne cooks for her family.
Families in the camp's tents cook their food for lunch.
"Amor es el vinculo de los vinculos"
Josias Termot is a leader of the camp community..
Katia cooks for her family.
Katia cooks for her family.
Peeling garlic.
Sleeping on the sidewalk
Next to the camp of the Haitians is a protest planton of Otomi indigenous people, who offer washing and other services to the Haitians.
Two Haitian men ask to use the bathroom in the planton of Otomi.
Daniel Alejandro Medina says he is from Westminster and wants to go back.
Michelle Medina nurses her baby Salome Comenal, and Milagros Tovar holds a Venezuelan flag, while a group of Haitian men look on.
The doorway of a church provides refuge. PHOTO EXHIBITIONS / EXPOSICIONES DE FOTOS MAS QUE UN MURO / MORE THAN A WALL Photographs by David Bacon / Fotografias por David Bacon
International Meeting on Human Mobility 2023 Encuentro internacional sobre movilidad humana 2023
Museo Nacional de las Culturas del Mundo Palacio Nacional Moneda 13, Centro Histórico Centro, Cuauhtémoc 06000 Ciudad de México CDMX, Mexico
Through October, 2023 ESSENTIAL Exploring the daily reality of Latinx agricultural workers through visual art and poetry.
Wesaam Al-Badry, Abiam Alvarez, David Bacon, Hannah Baldrige, caleb duarte, Juan R. Fuentes, Ricardo Ruiz, Christie Tirado, Arleene Correa Valencia, and historic works from the collection of SFSU's Labor Archives and Research Center Guest curated by Brianna Montserrat Miranda
Fine Arts Gallery Fine Arts Building Room 238, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132
August 12 to September 2, 2023 Opening reception: Saturday, August 12, 1 – 3 pm Gallery talk Wednesday, August 30, 4 pm - Fine Arts Gallery IN THE FIELDS OF THE NORTH/EN LOS CAMPOS DEL NORTE Photographs by David Bacon
Global Museum San Francisco State University 1600 Holloway Avenue San Francisco, CA
More Than a Wall / Mas que Un Muro explores the many aspects of the border region through photographs taken by David Bacon over a period of 30 years. These photographs trace the changes in the border wall itself, and the social movements in border communities, factories and fields. This bilingual book provides a reality check, to allow us to see the border region as its people, with their own history of movements for rights and equality, and develop an alternative vision in which the border can be a region where people can live and work in solidarity with each other. - Gaspar Rivera-Salgado
David Bacon has given us, through his beautiful portraits, the plight of the American migrant worker, and the fierce spirit of those who provide and bring to us comfort and sustenance. -- Lila Downs
Published by El Colegio de la Frontera Norte with support from the UCLA Institute for Labor Research and Education and the Center for Mexican Studies, the Werner Kohlstamm Family Fund, and the Green Library at Stanford University
"The "border" is just a line. It's the people who matter." - JoAnn Intili, director, The Werner-Kohnstamm Family Fund
IN THE FIELDS OF THE NORTH / EN LOS CAMPOS DEL NORTE
Photographs and text by David Bacon University of California Press / Colegio de la Frontera Norte 302 photographs, 450pp, 9”x9” paperback, $34.95 (in the U.S.)
order the book on the UC Press website: ucpress.edu/9780520296077 use source code 16M4197 at checkout, receive a 30% discount
Exhibited throughout the pandemic in the Cecil H. Green Library at Stanford. The online exhibition (https://exhibits.stanford.edu/bacon), which includes additional content not included in the physical show, is accessible to everyone, and is part of an accessible digital spotlight collection that includes significant images from this body of work. For a catalog: (https://web.stanford.edu/dept/spec_coll/NonVendorPubOrderform2017.pdf)
Online Interviews and Presentations
Red Lens Episode 6: David Bacon on US-Mexico border photography Brad Segal: On episode 6 of Red Lens, I talk with David Bacon.
David Bacon is a California-based writer and documentary photographer. A former union organizer, today he documents labor, the global economy, war and migration, and the struggle for human rights. We talk about David's new book, 'More than a Wall / Mas que un muro' which includes 30 years of his photography and oral histories from communities & struggles in the U.S.-Mexico border region. https://www.patreon.com/posts/71834023?fbclid=IwAR0BRhHYbrYU3BoeoAMFKU_zdHs5Xirmmt1LzQtfwf1yD8p9EYLXKhzzbDE
Letters and Politics - Three Decades of Photographing The Border & Border Communities https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nvs6SyXsM-4 Host Mitch Jeserich interviews David Bacon, a photojournalist, author, broadcaster and former labor organizer. He has reported on immigrant and labor issues for decades. His latest book, More Than A Wall, is a collection of his photographs of the border and border communities spanning three decades.
Exploitation or Dignity - What Future for Farmworkers UCLA Latin American Institute Based on a new report by the Oakland Institute, journalist and photographer David Bacon documents the systematic abuse of workers in the H-2A program and its impact on the resident farmworker communities, confronted with a race to the bottom in wages and working conditions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXKa2lHJXMs
Documentary Matters - View from the US Social Documentary Network Four SDN photographers explore themes of racial justice, migration, and #MeToo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWl-uENA7SQ&t=1641s There's More Work to be Done Housing Assistance Council and National Endowment for the Arts This exhibition documents the work and impact of the struggle for equitable and affordable housing in rural America, inspired by the work of George “Elfie” Ballis. https://www.thereismoreworktobedone.com/david-bacon Dark Eyes A beautiful song by Lila Downs honoring essential workers, accompanied by photographs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdC2gE3SNWw
Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press, 2008) Recipient: C.L.R. James Award, best book of 2007-2008 http://www.beacon.org/Illegal-People-P780.aspx
