Protective Coloration


This photo narrative  focuses on the contemporary theme of immigration. Other than indigenous people, the vast majority of  ancestry in the United States has been comprised of immigrants. Historically, our borders have been open or shut based on our collective view of the “other,” those not like us in look, custom or culture. From across the globe, sanctuary has been sought within our borders. In the series, globe like watercolor circles, encase the portraiture. There is a dissonance between the colorful orbs and the protective coloration necessary to provide  camouflage and assimilation in a new place. These antique glass negatives of a German man and woman were scanned in and various blending techniques were used to represent their absorption into new identities. The numeric system, incomplete and out of order denotes the chaos of immigration and the erasure of human beings between the numbers. The viewer is invited to consider the complex nature of immigration.