La Espera – The Wait

When I first moved to Mexico in 2017 I started working around subjects of migration and human displacement for a number of media outlets and NGOs.

The stories I would cover were often focusing on the plight of migrants and refugees to reach the US. With a background in photojournalism, I would often strive to find a defining moment in their journeys; moments that would convey the dangers, the movement and the impermanence of their situations.

On migrant shelters across the country I would find groups of individuals from all over the world. Many from Central and South America, but also from distant countries including Haití, Cameroon and Nepal. All waiting for the next step on their journeys. While I met them in a specific time on their extremely long and hazardous journeys, most of them spend their days waiting. For their visas to be approved. For the good weather that would allow them to cross the desert. For the expiration of the sentences that deported them. For the messages of their loved ones. 

With the project La Espera I wanted to document the realities of migrants, refugees and deportees across Mexico, highlighting the temporality of their situations. Focusing my camera towards moments of stopped time I wanted to showcase the feelings of distance, isolation and emptiness I often saw.