US/Mexico Border • 2010

31° 19’ 22.85” N, 109° 32’ 40.64” W

The United States-Mexico border is a land of stark contrasts and blurred boundaries. The communities of Douglas, Arizona and Agua Prieta, Sonora share families, landscapes, and a history, but the two are divided by an international border, steel fences, and ever-changing regulations. The lives of rural women in this region illuminate how people create and cross boundaries, and how those edges change over time.

We hope that this project will bring a greater awareness of the realities of rural life at the border–both the beauty and the hardships. Too often, the news media present people as they relate to traumatic issues, rather than showing people’s lives in their own words. We strive to present the impact of globalization as it is lived by real people, without forcing anyone to take sides.

Text by Anne Goldberg