4 images Created 18 Sep 2023
The Things They Carried
President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 days after declaring war against the Empire of Japan, effectively stripping tens of thousand of Japanese Americans of their citizenship and due process and placing them in 13 concentrations camps out in the wildernesses of America’s West. Hastily built and more like prison camps, Japanese Americans would spend the duration of the war here, and many lost all their possessions, businesses, property and reputations.
When orders were posted for citizens to report to transporting centers, they were only allowed to bring one suitcase per person and weeks notice. Into this suitcase were packed individuals clothes and the possessions most dear to them.
President Trump has increased deportation and detention of undocumented immigrants to unprecedented levels. Immigration and Custom Enforcement officers show up at workplaces, while parents are driving their kids to school, and at funerals, hospitals and other locations to drag off suspected undocumented immigrants. These individual’s don’t have to opportunity to even say goodbye.
With this project I hope to prompt individuals to grab their most cherished possessions within a small time span. I wish to capture their portrait and then ask them a series of questions. The goal is to capture the American immigrant story. By getting a diversity of portraits and narratives stories I want to compare and contrast possessions, motivations, and family stories. My belief is that we share fundamental values, and that in our political debates we lose sight of these and therefore the humanity in the other.
When orders were posted for citizens to report to transporting centers, they were only allowed to bring one suitcase per person and weeks notice. Into this suitcase were packed individuals clothes and the possessions most dear to them.
President Trump has increased deportation and detention of undocumented immigrants to unprecedented levels. Immigration and Custom Enforcement officers show up at workplaces, while parents are driving their kids to school, and at funerals, hospitals and other locations to drag off suspected undocumented immigrants. These individual’s don’t have to opportunity to even say goodbye.
With this project I hope to prompt individuals to grab their most cherished possessions within a small time span. I wish to capture their portrait and then ask them a series of questions. The goal is to capture the American immigrant story. By getting a diversity of portraits and narratives stories I want to compare and contrast possessions, motivations, and family stories. My belief is that we share fundamental values, and that in our political debates we lose sight of these and therefore the humanity in the other.
