Description

In 1989, Susan Meiselas documented the journey of Central and South American migrants trying to make the dangerous border crossing between Mexico and the United States. As Meiselas’ photographs show, many don’t make it and are sent back to the countries and conditions from which they were trying to escape. Pictured here, a 2am arrest of undocumented workers by US Border Patrol.

The camera is an excuse to be someplace you otherwise don't belong. It gives me both a point of connection and a point of separation.

Susan Meiselas
© Susan Meiselas | Magnum Photos
Susan Meiselas was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1948 and received her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and her M.A. in visual education from Harvard University. Her first major photographic essay focused on the lives of women doing striptease at New England country fairs, culminating in the celebrated project, Carnival Strippers. She is one of the world’s foremost documentary photographers, best known for her coverage of human rights issues in Latin America—notably the insurrection in Nicaragua—as well as her portraits of those living on the periphery of society. Meiselas joined Magnum in 1976.
© Susan Meiselas | Magnum Photos

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