Installation view of the smalls from El Sueño Americano / The American Dream, Saint Louis University Museum of Art, Missouri, September 2021. (Image Credit: Saint Louis Museum of Art)

Installation view from Domestic Seen, featuring work from El Sueño Americano / The American Dream, Overland Park, Kansas, February 2017.

Installation view from El Sueño Americano / The American Dream, Saint Louis University Museum of Art, Missouri, September 2021. (Image Credit: Saint Louis Museum of Art)

After being apprehended, the belongings of a detainee are placed in a property bag or remain in the backpack they traveled with. Sometimes essential items such as wallets, money and personal ID are accidentally discarded or lost while in custody while being transported between various law enforcement facilities.

Water is the main source of hydration when crossing the desert. In the Tucson sector of the U.S./Mexico border, heavy-duty non-biodegradable black plastic bottles are commonly used as canteens and are occasionally covered or insulated with remnants of clothing or blanket.

Installation view of Pertenencias / Belongings at the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (MOCRA), Missouri, September 2021. (Image Credit: David Brinker)

A pink camouflage backpack, carried by a migrant crossing the U.S./Mexico border and discarded by officers at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection station.

Using letters from dry alphabet soup carried by migrants or those seeking asylum, this is the sonnet written my Emma Lazarus and is on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, welcoming all immigrants.

Emma Lazarus’ sonnet in Spanish on the base of the Statue of Liberty.

Intimate personal belongings carried by migrants or those seeking asylum confiscated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and thrown in the trash.

5 Minutos, 2018
U.S.A. Nail Clippers, 2020
Rhinestone Eyelash Curler, 2019
Dino, 2018