MR CHAIR - Ciudad Juarez Chihuahua Mexico to El Paso Texas, United States. A man tries to cross the port of entry hiding into a car seat. He was caught in the American side port of entry and send back to Mexico. © Monica Lanzano

Borders

Monica Lozano

2020 — El Paso Texas, USA

About this series

The first picture, Mr Chair, shows a man who tried to cross from Ciudad Juarez into El Paso, Texas by hiding in a car seat. He was caught on the American side of the border crossing and sent back to Mexico.
This series illustrates the extremes people are willing to go to seek a better life. Monica Lozano captures stories that speak to the human condition. They are stories of survival but also of poignant sadness and fear, focusing on the moment of dehumanizing nothingness when migrants have left their past lives but not yet landed in their future. The images contrast the promise of a new world with a grim reality. 

© Monica Lanzano
TAXI NAUTA- Havana Cuba to Miami Florida, United States. Five Cubans travelled in a man made taxi boat across the Caribbean sea. They where intercepted at the American check point and sent back. This was their third attempt. Today they are still in Cuba, trying to cross the border. © Monica Lanzano
© Monica Lanzano
HOLY MATRIMONY- Calcutta, India to London, England. A 27 year old doctor paid an english widow for an express marriage so he could obtain legal residency in her country. He is currently living in Wales and is still waiting for his passport- or to be widowed. © Monica Lanzano
SANTO TORIBIO - Nogales Sonora, to Arizona, United States. A man walked across the Arizona Dessert (4,000 km) praying the saint of immigrants in Mexico, Santo Toribio. His trip lasted 4 days. His home is now Tucson, NM. © Monica Lanzano
HAPPY MEAL - Survival Kit given by a health center to the people who will cross the Sonora and Arizona desert .© Monica Lanzano
MR. MATTRESS - Africa to Europe, Mali to Morroco, Morocco to Spain and France. Subsaharian travels hidden inside a mattress: a man wanted to cross the border between Morocco and Spain. He is still trying to get to his destination.© Monica Lanzano
BLACK PASSPORT - From Kraqujevac, Serbia to Rome, Italy. A man bought a European Union Passport from the black market. The owner is Italian. He is currently living in Rome. © Monica Lanzano
MISS WHEEL - Tangier Morocco, Africa to Algeciras, Spain. A woman travelled inside a tire placed in the trunk of a van. She travelled hidden for six hours, with very little oxygen. She is now living in El Ejido, Spain. © Monica Lanzano
CAYUCO - From Senegal Africa to the Canary Islands, Spain. A man travelled in a small boat which carried thirteen immigrants from Africa. The boat turned upside down and he was the only survivor. He currently lives in Tenerife, Spain.© Monica Lanzano

Photographer: Monica Lozano
Nationality: Mexican – American
Based in: El Paso Texas, USA
Website: www.monicalozano.com
Instagram: @monicalozano

Monica Lozano is a Mexican-American photographer born in El Paso, Texas and raised across the border in the sister city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Lozano received her Master’s Degree in Photography in Madrid, Spain in Escuela Universitaria TAI. Her work has won various international photo competitions and grants, including two medals in Le Grand Prix de la Photographie Paris 2019 and final selection for Portrait of Humanity Book published by British Journal of Photography and Magnum Photos. In 2011, Lozano finished the Photo Global residency at the School of Visual Arts in New York City on a presidential scholarship which she won at the International Talent Support #ITSEIGHT Contest in Trieste, Italy.
Her work has been featured under the “One To Watch” section of American Photo Magazine and the Columbia Journalism Review selected her for the “20 Women to Watch” list in 2011. Lozano collaborated with the TED Award winner JR on his Inside Out Project in Mexico creating and coordinating a massive worldwide public art action called “Be The Change”, in which 21 countries exchanged portraits and pasted them on public spaces during the International Day of Peace in 2012. Lozano and her work were featured in the film, Inside Out, which premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival. Her work was selected for the opening exhibition of Latin America’s first photographic and image museum founded by the Pedro Meyer Foundation in Mexico City. Lozano’s elegant and socially charged portraits have been exhibited in Mexico, the United States, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Denmark, Seoul, Indonesia, Portugal, Tunis, Chile, Greece and Morocco.
Lozano is currently documenting the dire conditions of migrants, refugees and asylum- seekers housed in shelters and detention facilities in El Paso and Juarez. She came back to the border where she began life, straddling two countries and teaching University students about photography and how art can transcend borders.