border wall | A Peace of My Mind

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

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

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

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.

Tag: border wall

Proximity

Alvaro Enciso

A simple question

Peace at the border

Both sides