johnnoltner

Sebastian Quinac

February 24, 2021 by johnnoltner

Sebastian Quinac immigrated from Guatemala in his 20s to flee the civil war and threats to his life. After time in California and New York, he settled in Tucson, Arizona where he has lived for the past two decades. He is now a U.S. citizen and works with the Guatemalan consulate to help migrant families navigate the American immigration system. “One of my friends is a psychologist. And he said, if you go back to Guatemala, I’m sure you will […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: a peace of my mind, advocacy, border, consulate, Guatemala, immigrant, immigration, migrant, storytelling

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Juanita Molina

February 20, 2021 by johnnoltner

“Here in society there are so many people that we do not see and the migrant community that comes through this part of the world is one that is not seen.” Juanita Molina is the Executive Director for Border Action Network in Tucson, Arizona. Throughout her career she has advocated for LGBTQ communities and offered support to people with HIV/AIDS, those with terminal cancer and others facing domestic abuse and sexual assault. Her current role allows her to work for […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: activism, advocate, border, bridging, immigration, reconciliation, social change

Proximity

February 17, 2021 by johnnoltner

If you want to understand the world, get closer. Bryan Stevenson, of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of Just Mercy, talks about the importance of proximity as we try to grasp the nuanced realities of life. “If you are willing to get closer to people who are suffering,” Stevenson says, “you will find the power to change the world.” We have spent the last month along our southern border, trying to live and learn closer to the issues, putting […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: arizona, border, border wall, borderlands, Bryan Stevenson, immgration, mexico, proximity, storytelling

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Alvaro Enciso

February 13, 2021 by johnnoltner

“So now the secret is out. The Sonoran Desert is beautiful, absolutely gorgeous. The fauna and the flora and the light and everything. People come from all over the world to photograph it, to spend time there, to hike, but this beautiful landscape has a secret. Inside this lovely land, this Garden of Eden, people are dying every day. People are being arrested. People are being treated badly. And no one seems to know that.” Alvaro Enciso has been placing […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: alvaro enciso, arizona, border wall, borderlands, colombia, crosses, death, Hispanic, immgration, migrants, sonoran desert, storytelling, tucson

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Josseline

February 9, 2021 by johnnoltner

We left before the sun came up to meet Alvaro. It had snowed the night before and the roads were slow and icy. “Meet us in Amado,” he said. “By the big cow horns…you’ll see.” Alvaro Enciso is a 75-year old Colombian immigrant. He is an artist. He builds crosses and installs them in the Sonoran Desert where migrants have died trying to make the crossing into the United States. He has a list of more than 3,000 sites and […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: a peace of my mind, alvero enciso, amado, arivaca, arizona, bearing witness, border, death, immigrant, immigration, Josseline, migrant, no more deaths, samaritan, sonoran desert, storytelling, witness

Teresa Reyes

February 6, 2021 by johnnoltner

Teresa Reyes was born in El Salvador and came to the United States in 1999 when she was 17 years old, nine months pregnant and spoke only Spanish. As she established herself in her new home, she packed lettuce in farm fields, worked in slaughterhouses and taught herself English. She eventually put herself through college and now works as an environmental scientist. We talked about the search for her mother, who had fled the country’s civil war before Teresa’s first […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: a peace of my mind, borderlands, civil war, documentary, education, El Salvador, human, immigration, sacrifice, science, social justice, storytelling, Yuma

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A simple question

February 2, 2021 by johnnoltner

Last week we set up a studio at a plaza in Nogales, Arizona, about a block away from the border wall. We asked people, “How has the wall impacted you?” The first person to stop by was Claudia. She was from Mexico, but had her U.S. residency and lived and worked in Nogales, Arizona. She had married Emanuel three years ago and his immigration process had been delayed, then stopped by covid-19. Emanuel still lived in Nogales, Sonora and was […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: arizona, border, border wall, immigration, nogales, storytelling, wall

Tony Sedgwick

January 27, 2021 by johnnoltner

Tony Sedgwick is the President of the Board for the Santa Fe Ranch Foundation, a working cattle ranch near Nogales, Arizona and just a few miles north of the U.S. border with Mexico. With a background in international business law, Tony offers a sweeping view of history and economics of the borderlands and sees a need to shift our international policies away from fear and protectionism and toward development and infrastructure. This interview was conducted in mid-January 2021, before the […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: a peace of my mind, arizona, border, fear, government, immigrants, immigration, mexico, nogales, photography, ranching, Sedgwick, social issues, southwest, storytelling, wall

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Peace at the border

January 23, 2021 by johnnoltner

“There’s a good chance you’re going to think I’m nuts,” I said to the Border Patrol agent as I walked up to his SUV, parked at the top of a hill, facing south toward the border wall on the edge of Nogales, Arizona. I’d been photographing along the wall, the rusted steel bollards thrust 20 feet toward the sky, cascading coils of concertina wire hanging from the northern side like combat zone tinsel. Scraps of the razor wire were strewn […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: a peace of my mind, arizona, art, border, border wall, concertina wire, immigration, installation art, mexico, militarization, nogales, peace, sonora, storytelling

Both sides

January 21, 2021 by johnnoltner

The day didn’t go quite the way we had planned. I was with India Aubry of Voices from the Border and we were crossing into Nogales, Sonora, Mexico to interview Pancho, a street nurse who cares for migrants waiting south of the border for asylum hearings. We had directions and our plan was to meet Pancho at one of the migrant shelters to see his work and meet with some of the travelers. We drove through the Mariposa crossing on […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: a peace of my mind, asylum, border, border patrol, border wall, immigration, justice, mexico, migrants, nogales, separation, sonora, storytelling, weaving community

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A Peace of My Mind

Building community and bridging divides through portraits and personal stories.

Author Archives: johnnoltner

Sebastian Quinac

Proximity

Alvaro Enciso

Josseline

A simple question

Peace at the border

Both sides