Pearls and Flowers

Kyle in back of the house his grandmother lost
Yuma, Az
C-Print
2010

Kiefer in back of the house his grandmother lost
C-Print
Yuma, Az
2010
When I first meet kiefer he immediately reminded me of myself growing up in this border community : a "have-not" in a small bowl of "haves", us versus them . Our communities consisted of people who are "different". Products of situations we had no control over.
People in our communtiy die from drug addiction and alcholism and drop out of school , go on welfare . People in our communites who attempt to break down the wall and join "those people" on the other side:the functional normal families those who go away to college or summer camp , sometimes, eventually return to the otherside of the wall . The wall they attempted to break, ends up breaking them .

For me , Kiefer and other "have-nots" are warriors. My hope is we grow stronger in those places that have become broken.