Migrantes
Migrantes is a series of self-portraits of migrants in Mexico, made as they waited to cross the border into the United States. Photographed in collaboration with the subjects, Ferguson set-up the scene for each image, mounting a medium format camera on a tripod with a cable release and then stepped back, allowing the migrants to choose the moment of capture and participate in the process of documenting their lives. In February 2021, after a change of presidential administrations in the US, migrants from Central and South America surged on the US-Mexican border. Photographs of fraught migrants carrying their belongings, clinging to loved ones and caught in the flashes of photographers’ strobes were circulating in the media. While Ferguson notes the importance of this photojournalism, he noticed a lack of photography from the Mexican side of the border, especially images that gave the migrants any measure of agency.
1. Carlos Soyos, 34, and his son, Enderson, 8, from Guatemala, at the Good Samaritan migrant shelter in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Photograph by Carlos Soyos and Adam Ferguson.
2. Carlos Soyos, 34, and his son, Enderson, 8, from Guatemala, at the Good Samaritan migrant shelter in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Photograph by Carlos Soyos and Adam Ferguson.
3. Carlos Soyos, 34, and his son, Enderson, 8, from Guatemala, at the Good Samaritan migrant shelter in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Photograph by Carlos Soyos and Adam Ferguson.
4. Carlos Soyos, 34, and his son, Enderson, 8, from Guatemala, at the Good Samaritan migrant shelter in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Photograph by Carlos Soyos and Adam Ferguson.
5. Carlos Soyos, 34, and his son, Enderson, 8, from Guatemala, at the Good Samaritan migrant shelter in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Photograph by Carlos Soyos and Adam Ferguson.
6. Carlos Soyos, 34, and his son, Enderson, 8, from Guatemala, at the Good Samaritan migrant shelter in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Photograph by Carlos Soyos and Adam Ferguson.
7. Carlos Soyos, 34, and his son, Enderson, 8, from Guatemala, at the Good Samaritan migrant shelter in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Photograph by Carlos Soyos and Adam Ferguson.
8. Carlos Soyos, 34, and his son, Enderson, 8, from Guatemala, at the Good Samaritan migrant shelter in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Photograph by Carlos Soyos and Adam Ferguson.
9. Carlos Soyos, 34, and his son, Enderson, 8, from Guatemala, at the Good Samaritan migrant shelter in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Photograph by Carlos Soyos and Adam Ferguson.
10. Carlos Soyos, 34, and his son, Enderson, 8, from Guatemala, at the Good Samaritan migrant shelter in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Photograph by Carlos Soyos and Adam Ferguson.
11. Carlos Soyos, 34, and his son, Enderson, 8, from Guatemala, at the Good Samaritan migrant shelter in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Photograph by Carlos Soyos and Adam Ferguson.
12. Carlos Soyos, 34, and his son, Enderson, 8, from Guatemala, at the Good Samaritan migrant shelter in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Photograph by Carlos Soyos and Adam Ferguson.