On the Other Side of the Border

Abstract

Living in a country built on the backs of immigrants, many don't know their stories. No one knows where they came from, what they've gone through, what it's like to lose a parent to deportation, and what their children had to face growing up. This project aims to be one among many stories to be told about what it's really like to lose a parent to a parent to deportation and its effect on the family. The project is carried out through interviews with my parents, asking them to talk about what it was like growing up for them in their countries, what it was like crossing the border, and how they set their roots in the United States. Following up will be my own perspective of growing up in a situation like this, being the youngest, the expectations after losing a parent, and the pressure put onto my shoulders. The end result of the project is carried out by completed hand drawn animation that brings to life the interview and two large scaled hand drawn illustrations that are self-portraits of the before and after the deportation of a parent.