We started this project with a mind map on the topic of health. Somewhere along the way, I ended up exploring the physical and mental health of immigrants. Myself being a daughter of two immigrant parents, their trauma has been passed down to me and as I grow older I've tried to process it through share experiences and learning more about the subject. At the time, in 2019, there was (and still is) this ongoing issue of the U.S. border patrol separating families that tried to cross, and placing them in detention centers. Not only was it a matter of the physical health but also mental health that was affected of these people that were placed in confinement with limited and questionable resources, as well as being taken away from their families. 

After exploring the struggles that the people in confinement were facing, in addition to the barriers that immigrants face after crossing the border and beginning their life in the U.S., I felt that this topic was something that was very close to me ever since I was old enough to understand. I began to draw some thumbnail sketches using the imagery of a typical chain-link fence that you see in a lot of neighborhoods.

Through the process of making different thumbnails, I was able to come up with a variety of ideas, including angles and different lighting for the pictures I was going to take. I decided to take the images from a lower angle towards the sky to imply that a child was looking through the fence up at these gloomy clouds, with only a few peaks of trees and clear skies. The fence itself references the detention centers that the people were put into, but also the life that these immigrants are trying build while facing obstacles such as language and cultural barriers, discrimination, citizenship or residency status, and acculturation.