El Sueño Americano (The American Dream)
TOM KIEFER’S 3 VIRGEN DE GUADALUPE (2018), WHITE SHOELACE WITH BABY SHOE (2017), AND DIARY (2018) are part of El Sueño Americano (The American Dream), a photographic essay of the discarded personal effects and belongings of migrants apprehended by Border Patrol agents, discarded while being processed at a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol facility near the U.S./ Mexico border in southern Arizona. Kiefer explains that his “intent is to explore the humanity of the migrants who risk their lives crossing through the desert and to create a personal connection for the viewer to a migrant and their hope for a better life.” The worn paint on the virgin statues, the stains on the white shoelaces, and heartfelt words written in the diary mark the lives and struggles of those who carried these objects.