Optics of a War Zone at the Border
Laurie Smith | Texas, United States
Photographer: Laurie Smith
Exhibit Title: Optics of a War Zone at the Border
Location: Texas, United States
Judging by the optics, the borderland now resembles a war zone. Since 2016, I have driven along the dirt road adjacent to the border wall from El Paso, TX, to Columbus, NM, on self-assigned missions to observe what unfolds. I rarely encountered a soul. But I observed breaches in the wall—patchwork repairs where smugglers cut holes for migrants to slip through—and seen the construction of the wall, once broken segments now filled in. I also found migrant detritus dropped in the sand by those arrested or fleeing in the night.
In April, I encountered small signs, warning that the area is now designated a military zone under the Department of Defense, off-limits to the public. A 55-mile-long “national defense area” was established in West Texas and New Mexico to curb crossings. This follows the deployment of soldiers, military vehicles, and detention centers, marking a militarization of the border uncommon among democracies.
For now, I cannot document what’s happening at the border wall, but I’ll find a way. This administration has shown me how.
Being raised in the borderlands of El Paso and Juarez, I have a deeply rooted bi-cultural identity, giving me a unique perspective on the current immigration crisis at the borderline. While critical issues of human migration span the globe and more immediately along the 2000 mile stretch of the US/Mexico border, my focus is the microcosm of one landscape now divided, where West Texas, New Mexico and Mexico meet.
These photographs are meant to showcase the tangled reality of what I witness on both sides of the border.
I invite people to experience the stark reality of a border wall that juxtaposes serene landscapes and austere architecture, through a form that displays both sublime beauty and grave darkness as it now stretches endlessly, east to west and across the Chihuahua desert.
My intent is to evoke compassion and to end complacency about the politicized issue of immigration by
giving viewers a face to the human cost of the unrelenting migrant crisis and to illuminate the moral and social divisiveness occurring at this time in history.
I also hope to spark bipartisan dialog about legal, humane, fact-based solutions when the truth is often obscured.
If people don’t care, what hope does the world have?
THE WALL
I am a child of the border
Through this lens I see
I am driven
To photograph The Wall
That has ripped through a centuries-old
Paso del Norte—Pass of the North
Through my lens, I bear witness to the Wall and all it has come to represent
A rip
A tear
A gash
Broken families
Broken friendships
Broken journeys
Broken land
Broken cultures
Broken nations
Broken souls
Broken promises
Broken trust
Broken dreams
Broken hearts
I search for the light to shine through
lsmitphoto@mac.com
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