Tom Kiefer with one of his photographs (Mickey) near Ajo, Arizona, near the U.S./ Mexico border. While working as a janitor at a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol detention center in Ajo, Arizona, photographer Tom Kiefer collected countless personal belongings that were taken away from undocumented immigrants for security reasons. The personal items such as rosaries, bibles, belts, toys, toothbrushes, toothpaste, lighters, soap, combs, flagrance, pictures, clothing, just to name a few, would have been thrown away if he had not rescued them from garbage bins. Tom Kiefer stores and photographs the hundreds of personal items for his project Sueno Americano Project (American Dream) at his studio. Major exhibitions and publications have featured his work. © Stefan Falke

La Frontera (artists along the US-Mexican border)

Stefan Falke

ongoing project since 2008 — US-Mexico

About this series

Stefan Falke documents the vibrant cultural activities along the US – Mexico border since 2008 and photographed over 200 artists along the 2000 miles long divide to show a different side of a region that is usually portrayed with the sole focus on violent crime and illegal immigration.

For the last two years he has been focussing on artists in the region who work specifically with border and migration related issues and/or are migrants themselves, like Alvaro Enciso who puts up  crosses where the remains of migrants have been found near the border, or three opera singing women who perform on both sides to promote cross border culture, or Tom Kiefer who collects and photographs migrants possessions taken from them and thrown away by the border patrol.

© Stefan Falke
The singer and musician Ilse Abril in San Luis de Colorado, Sonora, Mexico, at the U.S.-Mexico border fence. © Stefan Falke
For over 5 years now, once every week, Columbian born and Tucson based artist Alvaro Enciso has quietly gone out into the Sonoran Desert, placing a cross in each place where the remains of migrants who died in the desert after illegally crossing the US-Mexico border into Arizona were found by the border patrol. The County's Medical Examiner provides him and his volunteers (usually members of the Tucson Samaritans) with updated maps that lists the exact location of nearly 3,000 human remains, found in the Arizona desert since 2001. The number is continuously growing; Alvaro has made and placed over 800 crosses already. His project, titled Donde Mueren Los Suenos / Where Dreams Die, is ongoing. Sonoran Desert, near Tucson, Arizona, USA. September 17, 2018 © Stephan Falke
Photographer Tochiro Gallegos on the roof of his studio in Reynosa. His strong personal work reflects the violent circumstances in some border cities. Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico. © Stefan Falke
Jellyfish Colectivo is a collaboration of 4 artists in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. © Stefan Falke
The three members of Artistas Fronterizas, a cross border opera performing group: Eva Monroy, Mezzo Soprano Anishka Lee-Skorepa, Soprano Olena Galystka, Piano US-Mexico border in Playas de Tijuana. © Stefan Falke
Muralist and comic artist Rexito Maraña in Cuidad Juarez, Mexico. © Stefan Falke
American photographer, peace and border activist and educator Raechel Running faces off the border wall with her self-made bi-national flag in Agua Prieta, Mexico, where she worked with a local community. She spent 5 years in Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, and now lives in Tuscon, Arizona. Raechel's fine art and essays give voice to those who are seldom represented in our media or our history books. She is inspired and deeply moved by the enduring spirit of people's stories on both sides who are caught in the political divide and struggle to preserve their traditions and family bonds that are deeply rooted to the land and love both countries. Art is a bridge towards kinship and stewardship. She lived in Chihuahua, Mexico for five years and now calls Tucson's historic Barrio Viejo home. Raechel: "My work is a visual corrido, a love song, for the people and the landscape of the borderlands. I am inspired by the reportage tradition and visual poetry to reflect and give a voice to the people and the land that is seldom represented in our media. Art is a bridge and my work reflects the magical realism of Nepantla, the place and people who live in-between the worlds of the borderlands". © Stefan Falke
A hiding place in the Sonoran Desert, an empty black water bottle left behind. Undocumented immigrants usually walk at night in order to make their detection more difficult but also to escape the daytime desert heat. © Stefan Falke
Photographer Tom Kiefer and his work near his studio in in Ajo, Arizona, near the U.S./ Mexico border. The soaps in his photo were taken from undocumented immigrants by the border patrol in a detention center in this area. While working as a janitor at a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol detention center in Ajo, Arizona, photographer Tom Kiefer collected countless personal belongings that were taken away from undocumented immigrants for security reasons. The personal items such as rosaries, bibles, belts, toys, toothbrushes, toothpaste, lighters, soap, combs, flagrance, pictures, clothing, just to name a few, would have been thrown away if he hadn't rescued them from garbage bins. Tom Kiefer stores and photographs the hundreds of personal items for his project Sueno Americano Project (American Dream) at his studio. © Stefan Falke

Photographer: Stefan Falke
Nationality: German
Based in: New York City, USA
Website: www.stefanfalke.com
Instagram: @stefanfalke_portfolio

Stefan Falke lives in New York City and works for international magazines, film studios and corporate clients. He is the author of two books: “MOKO JUMBIES: The Dancing Spirits of Trinidad”, a photo essay about a stilt walking school in Trinidad, and “LA FRONTERA: Artists along the US – Mexican Border”, the result of an ongoing project for which he photographed over 200 artists who live and work on both sides of the 2000 miles long US-Mexico border.

His work has been shown in international galleries, photo festivals and museums:
Visa Pour l’Image, Perpignan (France), Photoville, Brooklyn, New York (USA), Triennale der Photographie Hamburg (Germany), Festival Tijuana Interzona (Mexico), IMAS – International Museum for Art and Science, McAllen, Texas (USA), The Cervantes Institute, Cultural Institute of Spain, Frankfurt (Germany), Galeria 409, Brownsville, Texas, (USA), The Mexican Cultural Institute of Washington, D.C. (USA), CEART Mexicali, (Mexico), Deutsches Haus at NYU, New York City (USA) … just to name a few.

Falke became a member of the prestigious German photo agency “laif / Agentur für Photos und Reportagen” in 1999 (laif is represented by Redux in the US).