I would like to draw attention to the Immigrants who wanted to live a better life in America. I tried to connect past and present with visualising these people in today’s environment.
Last year I’ve been to Ellis Island and I immediately had a bad feeling about that place. Approximately I knew what happened in Ellis Island and later I’ve been thinking about the likeness of current the immigration reforms in the United States. I made a research and it’s really sad what happened to many Immigrants. Many of them died in Ellis Island while waiting and hoping for an opportunity for a new life.
In this way their dream came true. I created this project as a reminder and commemorate to the 3,500 people who died there.
Black and white images from the previous century are often forgotten, so I colorised them and retouched the damages to make more connected to the present. The images are fictional, many people couldn’t ever get into Manhattan or live in America.
Migration is an ongoing situation and the story of Ellis Island is still relevant nowadays.
This is not history. This is today.
progress
Thank you for your attention!
Flóra Borsi, 2017
sources:
www.loc.gov gjenvick.com digitalcollections.nypl.org shmoop.com dnalc.org shorpy.com ted.com nps.gov huffingtonpost.com usnatarchives.tumblr.com wikimedia.com
