LOBA Finalist Francesco Anselmi: Photo-Essay

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Last September, the prestigious Leica Oskar Barnack Awards 2019 took place in Berlin and we featured two of the finalists in Client US13 for their outstanding b/w photography essays. Here is the work of Francesco Anselmi, with descriptions of each photograph below each image.

Francesco Anselmi was born in Milan in 1984 and studied at the International Center of Photography. He was also a finalist of the Leica Oskar Barnack Award back in 2014. In Francesco’s ‘Borderlands’ project, he visited the border between Mexico and the United States, a vast 3200 kilometres long. Pictures from the Mexican side are shared frequently in the media, but Francesco decided to visit the American side and he asked himself, ‘What is life like in the shadow of the wall?’

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15th birghday at Colonia La Penita. Colonias are extremely poor communities of Mexican migrants which are born along the border between Texas and Mexico. In these communities the majority of people entered the US illegally and is still without regular papers. La Joya, Texas. April 2017.
Felipe and Maria with their son David at Colonia La Penita. Felipe and Maria illegally entered the United States. David, 2 years old, is a US citizen. La Joya, Texas. April, 2017.
Harry Hughes, leader of the National Socialist party and founder of the US Border Guard, a paramilitary militia group that patrols the border between Arizona and Mexico. Their aim is to stop the traffick of drugs and human beings. Maricopa, AZ. April 2017.
Church, Casagrande, Arizona.
Gabriel, 24 years old, with his aunt Marilena, 42 years old. I encountered Gabriel and Marilena while driving on a smuggling road between the US border with Mexico and the town of Arivaca, Arizona. Gabriel and Marilena were severely dehidrated and couldnt move anymore after walking several hours in the desert. They claimed to be part of a group of 8 people that was abandoned by a smuggler in the Sonoran desert. Arivaca, Arizona. May 2017.,
Glenn Spencer, 81, setting up one of his drones. Mr Spencer’s property confines with the Mexican border and his land is often crossed by smugglers. He is developing a technology based on underground sensors capable to send a signal to drones that automatically take off and fly on location to identify the trespassers. Mr Spencer technology is apparently beeing considered by the Trump’s administration as one of the possible solution to border related issues. Sierra Vista, Arizona, November 2017.
Santos, 23, soldier of the gang marasalvatrucha 13, posing in he house of a fellow gangmember. Mara13 is currently the point of reference of Mexican cartels for the distribution of drugs in the States. Santos has been recently released after two years spent in prison for a crime he did not commit.
As a matter of fact, it is practice for youth to turn themselves instead of a more important member of the gang. El Paso, Texas. May, 2017.
Christmas decorations. Maricopa, Arizona. December 2017.
Beauty pageant contest at the Tohono O’Odham native reservation. The Tohono O’Odham reservation is located in the Sonoran desert, along the border with Mexico and has been accused of cooperating in human and drug smuggling. with the Mexican cartels. The growing tension between federal authorities and the Native community brought to the creation of two permanent checkpoints to access and exit the native’s lands. Arizona, USA. December 2018.
An aero-balloon remotely controlled by the Federal Border Patrol to intercept the traffic of drugs and human beings along the border between Mexico and Texas. Roma, Tx. April, 2017.