A paradox in this era of globalization is that we continue to build walls to mark the borders between countries. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, man has continued erecting walls across the world. Martin Beaulieu traveled along the border between the United States and Mexico on the trail of illegal immigrants coming to live in the country of Uncle Sam.
Separating the United States and Mexico is a concrete wall winding along the Rio Grande. Bars and barbed wire rise out of the desert. A metal scar runs through cities. “At the foot of the wall, the inhabitants of border towns live in the shadow on this symbolic structure,” explains Sophie Mangado, the journalist who accompanied Beaulieu during his report.
Beaulieu’s photographs examine the walls from the eyes of people for whom it is a daily reality.
Martin Beaulieu has been an independent photographer for fifteen years. His long-form reports focus on human and social issues. He has collaborated with several NGOs, including Doctors Without Borders, the Canadian International Development Agency and the International Red Cross. His work has appeared in Canadian Geographic, Geo France, ID Magazine and The Sunday Times. Conducted in September 2009 and October 2010, this report is part of a series on border walls around the world, co-produced with the journalist Sophie Magado
Jean-François Nadeau
