THE MEXICAN DREAM

THE MEXICAN DREAM is the photographic accompaniment to my forthcoming book When Our Bodies Disappear, which documents one migrant family’s struggle to make a new life in Mexico.

In 2015, the Castros fled Honduras after hitmen fired bullets into their home. These days, fleeing gang violence is not enough to receive asylum in the United States, and so the family ended up stranded in northern Mexico, a place they never intended to live. 

Since their resettlement, I have collaborated with the Castros—often living in their home—to document their transiency and resettlement, from birthday parties, to first days of school, to new jobs, to new babies. Through them, we glimpse something of 21st century existence that has so far gone mostly unrecognized. As the United States increasingly militarizes its border and dismantles asylum protections, border cities like Monterrey have become 21st century melting pots, with potentially hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world attempting to make a new life south of the border. These people are not seen or talked about. They are intentionally hidden behind a wall. Their dreams are not considered.

THE MEXICAN DREAM asks: If the American Dream is increasingly foreclosed to the world’s poor, how do people continue to build dignified and meaningful lives elsewhere?

My most important goal, therefore, is to catch the Castro family dreaming. Little flashes in the ordinary that speak to the kind of lives they are trying to build. My hope is to communicate just how beautiful and dignified their dreams are, and just how hard they have fought for them.

If your institution is interested in hosting THE MEXICAN DREAM, please reach out.