The things they carried
December 6, 2019 8:38 AM Subscribe
A janitor photo documents the items seized by US Border Patrol “Deemed potentially lethal or nonessential by border officials, the...personal belongings were thrown away during the first stages of processing at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility in southern Arizona. While working as a janitor at the same facility from 2003 to 2014, photographer Tom Kiefer secretly collected the belongings and later began shooting them.”
The comparisons to documentation of items stolen or left behind by holocaust victims are too clear to ignore in this photo series.
Humanitarian efforts to document things left behind by people attempting to cross the border (and leave supplies for those who come after) have been ongoing for years, but this photo series of seized items demonstrates more clearly the human cruelty, with color pop backgrounds and the almost too careful spacing of basic household items, like toothbrushes and combs, pulled from the garbage.
Here (youtube)migrant’s rights activist Dora Rodriguez talks with Kiefer in his studio where 90% of the items he has collected wait to be photographed, about her story crossing the border and provide context for some of the items.
The comparisons to documentation of items stolen or left behind by holocaust victims are too clear to ignore in this photo series.
Humanitarian efforts to document things left behind by people attempting to cross the border (and leave supplies for those who come after) have been ongoing for years, but this photo series of seized items demonstrates more clearly the human cruelty, with color pop backgrounds and the almost too careful spacing of basic household items, like toothbrushes and combs, pulled from the garbage.
Here (youtube)migrant’s rights activist Dora Rodriguez talks with Kiefer in his studio where 90% of the items he has collected wait to be photographed, about her story crossing the border and provide context for some of the items.
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posted by Mental Wimp at 9:07 AM on December 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:07 AM on December 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
Heartbreaking, sickening. No effort or thought towards not stealing and trashing people's belongings, not unlike how the people themselves are treated.
posted by GoblinHoney at 9:26 AM on December 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by GoblinHoney at 9:26 AM on December 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
nazis.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 9:40 AM on December 6, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 9:40 AM on December 6, 2019 [10 favorites]
I came to say exactly that: They are nazis. History will compare them unfavorably.
posted by growabrain at 10:18 AM on December 6, 2019
posted by growabrain at 10:18 AM on December 6, 2019
He's humanizing the very dehumanizing process of the 'our' government.
On another note, I like the way a blue jean pant leg is made into a cover/holder for a gallon water container.
posted by eye of newt at 10:37 AM on December 6, 2019
On another note, I like the way a blue jean pant leg is made into a cover/holder for a gallon water container.
posted by eye of newt at 10:37 AM on December 6, 2019
So striking.
posted by Secretariat at 11:13 AM on December 6, 2019
posted by Secretariat at 11:13 AM on December 6, 2019
We take away insulin.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:47 AM on December 6, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:47 AM on December 6, 2019 [6 favorites]
It's clearly the artist's intent to humanize the migrants and probably overall it does do that more than the opposite, but I can't help feeling very conflicted about this. It is good that is it on display as art because it is on display, but these are stolen items, some very personal, some stolen in the recent past from people who were detained at the time, some of whom may be detained indefinitely. Someone's diary turned into "art" ... The caption reads "Tom Kiefer's 'Diary'" because as a piece of art it is attributed to him, but it is not his diary. He says he shoots everything with varied colored backgrounds because he wants to humanize it, rather than make it appear scientific. Shouldn't it be shot in a documentary manner, like evidence of a crime to be presented when those who committed the crime must stand trial to answer for their actions? Presenting it as pop art trivializes it. The items recently found from Holocaust victims are not shot in this way, and I can't see that anyone would dare to do that. Maybe I am just too angry and raw after reading how Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez, a 16-year-old boy from Guatemala held in Texas, was left to die of flu in his cell, denied simple medical care that would have kept him alive, to even see this right now. The cruelty is overwhelming.
posted by nequalsone at 12:06 PM on December 6, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by nequalsone at 12:06 PM on December 6, 2019 [4 favorites]
I can see how a plain white background could be effective, but I like the humanizing, personal touch that the color adds. These are people who bought their toothbrushes at the drug store last month, just like me. These are teenagers who use fun filters on Instagram and like bright colors, just like my daughter. A more detached photo might make for a more detached viewer.
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:21 PM on December 6, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:21 PM on December 6, 2019 [3 favorites]
The cruelty is the point.
posted by stet at 3:55 PM on December 6, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by stet at 3:55 PM on December 6, 2019 [5 favorites]
> Wait, why are they confiscating this stuff?
because they're nazis.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 4:30 PM on December 6, 2019 [3 favorites]
because they're nazis.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 4:30 PM on December 6, 2019 [3 favorites]
Personal items such as birth controls pills are considered non-essential and discarded during intake.
Personal hygiene items such as soap is considered non-essential personal property and is disposed of during intake.
Personal items such as combs, brushes and elastic hair bands are considered non-essential, potentially lethal and discarded during intake.
Toothpaste and toothbrushes are considered potentially lethal non-essential personal property and are disposed of during intake. While in custody, most migrants will not have access to toothpaste and toothbrushes.
and so on. From his webpage via previous post.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 5:09 PM on December 6, 2019 [6 favorites]
Personal hygiene items such as soap is considered non-essential personal property and is disposed of during intake.
Personal items such as combs, brushes and elastic hair bands are considered non-essential, potentially lethal and discarded during intake.
Toothpaste and toothbrushes are considered potentially lethal non-essential personal property and are disposed of during intake. While in custody, most migrants will not have access to toothpaste and toothbrushes.
and so on. From his webpage via previous post.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 5:09 PM on December 6, 2019 [6 favorites]
"because they're nazis."
They are America. They are foot soldiers carrying out the policies of the US government. Most of these photos were taken in during the Obama administration, but they were enforcing laws written by the elected officials of the United States (or administrative policies that the executive branch: ie: the President is responsible for, but these actions have taken place during both Republican and Democratic Party presidents). The label the actions of the customs and immigration officers as 'nazi' is to neglect to take responsibility for them.
posted by el io at 9:20 PM on December 6, 2019
They are America. They are foot soldiers carrying out the policies of the US government. Most of these photos were taken in during the Obama administration, but they were enforcing laws written by the elected officials of the United States (or administrative policies that the executive branch: ie: the President is responsible for, but these actions have taken place during both Republican and Democratic Party presidents). The label the actions of the customs and immigration officers as 'nazi' is to neglect to take responsibility for them.
posted by el io at 9:20 PM on December 6, 2019
> They are America. They are foot soldiers carrying out the policies of the US government.
also, they're nazis. they put people in camps due to their adherence to a blood-and-soil ideology. they believe that people disfavored by that ideology aren't people, and they act based on that belief. they like it when the people they put into camps suffer. they're nazis.
> The label the actions of the customs and immigration officers as 'nazi' is to neglect to take responsibility for them.
alternately it's to correctly identify them as people who put other people into camps because blood-and-soil.
> Most of these photos were taken in during the Obama administration, but they were enforcing laws written by the elected officials of the United States
bourgeois electoral politics is antidemocratic trash liberal governments are complicit with fascism because capitalism and fascism love each other socialism or barbarism smash the capitalist state.
none of the above is a joke.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 4:32 AM on December 7, 2019
also, they're nazis. they put people in camps due to their adherence to a blood-and-soil ideology. they believe that people disfavored by that ideology aren't people, and they act based on that belief. they like it when the people they put into camps suffer. they're nazis.
> The label the actions of the customs and immigration officers as 'nazi' is to neglect to take responsibility for them.
alternately it's to correctly identify them as people who put other people into camps because blood-and-soil.
> Most of these photos were taken in during the Obama administration, but they were enforcing laws written by the elected officials of the United States
bourgeois electoral politics is antidemocratic trash liberal governments are complicit with fascism because capitalism and fascism love each other socialism or barbarism smash the capitalist state.
none of the above is a joke.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 4:32 AM on December 7, 2019
bourgeois electoral politics is antidemocratic trash liberal governments are complicit with fascism because capitalism and fascism love each other socialism or barbarism smash the capitalist state.
RNTP, I usually agree with you on most of your points. However, I'm not sure what this even says. I'm not trying to be funny, or mean, if you could help me out here, I would appreciate it.
posted by evilDoug at 11:33 AM on December 7, 2019
RNTP, I usually agree with you on most of your points. However, I'm not sure what this even says. I'm not trying to be funny, or mean, if you could help me out here, I would appreciate it.
posted by evilDoug at 11:33 AM on December 7, 2019
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posted by zamboni at 9:00 AM on December 6, 2019