Photojournalist talks about the powerful images of immigrants in ‘Undocumented.’
Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer John Moore’s new book, “Undocumented: Immigration and the Militarization of the United States-Mexico Border,” takes a poignant visual look at the 2,000 miles of porous land boundaries he describes as “beautiful and terrifying.”
Moore compiled 176 pages of photography spanning a decade of work as a staff special border correspondent for Getty Images.
The work, released by PowerHouse Books, is the most comprehensive photography volume published in the United States by a single author focusing exclusively on immigration at the border with Mexico. Moore will be in Houston for a conversation with the public May 9 at River Oaks Bookstore.
Moore’s lens intimately captures the human complexity of a phenomenon currently at the center of national debate. His view is from the perspective of both the migrants and the federal authorities in charge of deterring illegal entry into this country.
Moore has previously covered international conflicts and wars around the world. He was part of the Associated Press photo team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for covering the war in Iraq; he was also a finalist in 2012 for his visual accounts of the Arab Spring while working for Getty Images.
Where is the beauty of the border in his new book? What is terrifying about the region? Moores offers a window into his process.
Q: What motivated you to create this book?
A: I had been photographing immigration issues for years, but when then-candidate (Donald) Trump made border security a top campaign pledge, it again became a big news story. So I photographed along every mile of the U.S.-Mexico border and covered the story from as many perspectives as I could. I assumed that the issue would wane if he lost the election, but he didn’t. … I found myself back photographing on the border a week after the vote. At that point, it also became clear that this long-term project should become a book.
Q: What is the relevance of this book in America today?
A: Americans are on the receiving end of a lot of misinformation when it comes to undocumented immigration. Most people get their news within their own echo chambers. This book is a work of photojournalism, and I want the readers to draw their conclusions about the issue from the images in the book and the experiences I write about. I don’t try to tell them what to think. The release of “Undocumented” is incredibly timely, but that also would probably have been the case at any time during this administration.
Q: What are the most challenging aspects of working as a photojournalist covering border issues?
A: Access is always the most challenging issue for almost any sort of in-depth journalism. In the case of this project, I wanted to photograph from the perspective of immigrants on one side and federal law enforcement on the other. I had been based in Latin America for seven years earlier in my career, so Spanish-language skills really helped me in connecting with immigrants both in Central America and Mexico but also around the United States. In terms of photographing law enforcement, U.S. immigration agencies are essentially military in the way they operate. I spent years photographing the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, often embedded with the military. I learned how to operate in that environment.
Q: And on the flip side, what was the most rewarding aspect of working on this book?
A: Photographing people and places that are difficult to access, telling stories that are hard — that’s really rewarding.
Q: What did you learn from this work on a professional level and on a personal level?
A: This story has reinforced something I’ve learned over the course of my career. That is, if the people I photograph feel I am honest and fair, they will give me extraordinary access to their lives, often in some of the most difficult moments. I try very hard not to abuse that access.
Q: Is there any photo in the book that you value in a special way?
A: One afternoon I was photographing U.S. Border Patrol agents as they tracked a group of undocumented immigrants through thick brush after the group had crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico into Texas. The agents had a K-9 unit, and the dogs were sniffing and racing through the mesquite as they closed in on the group. I heard barking, and when I caught up to them, the agents were pulling out a half-dozen dust-covered immigrants from under thorny branches. They grouped briefly in a clearing, and I looked down and saw that a handcuffed couple were holding hands. The woman, her thumbnail painted red, was gently caressing his hand. That small gesture of comfort, of humanity, stays with me. I had no chance to interview them, so I never knew from where they came — what and who they left behind. I never knew if they had traveled together or met in that very moment. I never knew what they had paid to make this difficult journey, nor what they felt when it ended in failure.
Sometimes photographs leave us with more questions than answers, and that’s OK, as long as they make us feel.
Q: What would you like for people to take away from this book?
A: I’d like people to think of immigration and the border with Mexico in a more nuanced way. I wanted to both humanize the plight of undocumented immigrants and reveal how they are dehumanized in this current environment of xenophobia in the United States.
Q: Briefly in each case, how would you describe the border from the following perspectives?
• Physically: It’s varied, rugged, beautiful and terrifying, often all at once.
• Artistically: It’s best seen from above, as a thin line, dwarfed by vast landscape.
• Professionally, from the view of the photojournalist: It’s many thousands of pictures and counting.
• Politically: It’s a lightning rod.