MAP OF THE WEST SONORAN DESERT

The symbolic red dots, though numerous, still don’t fully depict the amount of death and disappearance that occurs in this region. Each red dot is representative of a person. Read that again. Each dot is representative of A PERSON. Someone with hopes, dreams, hardships, flaws and beautiful gifts to share with the world. They come from a lineage of people, communities, and ecosystems that are also impacted by their departure. Each dot represents only those whose remains have been found. This map is not comprehensive. It is widely accepted that the statistics for deaths and disappearances in the desert are widely undercounted due to policies and systems that have weaponized the land against life.

This project seeks to honor each and every individual person. Desert navigators that used the stars and the montañas to make their way across a vast desert in search of something. What that is, is not for us to say. All we know is that migration is something that happens throughout the natural world, of which we are a part of. Migration is natural. Walls and borders are not.

Para todes les desaparecides, siempre presentes.

SOURCES:

Humane Borders Map of Migrant Mortality: https://humaneborders.info/app/map.asp