“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” he said in the same speech. “They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” 
2015

“I will build a great, great wall on our Southern border.”
2015

“So we’re going to build a wall and it will be a great wall.”
2016

“With Mexico being one of the highest crime Nations in the world, we must have THE WALL.”
2017

“You can’t come in, our country is full.”
2019

“Many of these illegal aliens are living far better now (in camps) than where they came from. If they are unhappy, just tell them not to come to this country.”
2019

“They hate our country. If you hate our country you can leave.
Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came?”
2019

I have consistently tried to keep my self involved in the important issues that shape our lives. By doing so I add an important voice to the public discourse.

Of course, I have and continue to be opposed to the use of social media, since its inception, on the principal that while it offers social connectivity to billions of its users, I have had questions as to its prudent use. Social media connects users across all boundaries. It also allows users to cross all moral boundaries. 

The revelations that have surfaced widely since 2016 about its misuse have only added to my initial suspicions of these open forms of mass communication that function by placing so much power in the hands of a few, with no oversight or accountability. Free of responsibility, the media has been subjugated as a tool for spreading fear, ignorance, hatred, fraud, and profiteering. This is the United States of America.

My art is about the experience, about touching the real world. I still spin records, shoot film, read books, garden, split firewood. I drive a capable used vehicle. I chose to remain very analog and connected to the earth, I don’t facebook, instagram, or twitter.

I have worked on this particular project for the past couple of years. From a research phase, to experimentation with material, to location scouting, to the photography, and the photograph itself; through each phase, it has taken on greater significance as I look back at my parents’ path, which is the same as all American citizens, and work to shape the future of the world for my kids and grandkids. 

Since its founding, this country has stood as a light shinning in the darkness of human rights violations. The image of the Unites States of America was crafted as a Roman goddess, a champion and defender of the oppressed. 

A burnished gleaming monument, bathed in rich patina, standing at the seaside gate through which millions of refugees have entered this land seeking freedom. The gilded image has stood in all of its glory and pomp, lauded with grand proclamations. The truth is, for centuries this country has been built on a foundation of violence and crimes against humanity.

That reality has never been more apparent than today. “The greatest celebration this country has ever seen” comes with the greatest of prices, in the lives of innocent children seeking asylum from that grand lady, waiting, torch held high lighting the way to freedom.

We are all migrants, every American should take the time to reflect on their lives, histories, and the legacy they will leave behind.

Therein lies the greatness.

Juan Rojas Aguilar
July 20