Michael Wells, Migrant artifacts. Sonora Desert , Arizona, photograph, 2010-2013
For over a decade, California-based artist Michael Wells has been photographing and archiving objects left behind by migrants crossing remote areas of the Sonoran Desert while on their way to the U.S./Mexico border.
Wells is part of the Undocumented Migrant Project , a long-term scientific study spearheaded by University of Michigan anthropology professor Jason De León, which seeks to use ethnography, archaeology and forensic science to transcend political talking points and better understand this clandestine social process. This project has been ongoing since 2009, and involves the work of dozens of students and researchers from the Institute of Field Research, an academic organization that connects students from around the world with archaeological projects. The project lives online in various forms — videos and photos on its main website, as well as at least seven academic papers in journals like American Anthropologist and International Migration , and one book titled the Land of Open Graves , all of which De León served as the head writer.
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Mohamad Hafez, Desperate Cargo , mixed media float sculpture, 144” x 48” x 40”, 2016
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Jason De León + Michael Wells + Lucy Cahill, Hostile Terrain , multimedia installation, 2018
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