Borderproject2017 aims to document life on both sides of the US/Mexico border. Three AFP photographers, Jim Watson, Yuri Cortez, and Guillermo Arias, spent ten days travelling along the 2,000 mile frontier from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of MexicoThe total length of the US-Mexican border is close to 2,000 miles, from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. Heading east from Tijuana and San Diego are the vast expanses of Sonora and Chihuahua deserts, via Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, before reaching the Colorado river delta, and finally the cities of Matamoros and Brownsville.Jim Watson drove nearly 1,750 miles along dirt roads, through deserts and vast amounts of farm lands along the US side of the border beginning in San Diego, California and ending in San Antonio, Texas. Watson´s Mexican colleagues Yuri Cortes, and Guillermo Arias took a parallel journey on the Mexican side, beginning in Baha California and finishing in Tamaulipas.I felt that many Americans had no idea what the border in the US really looked like, and I myself had no complete vision of it. I hoped US Border Patrol public affairs would be able to provide me with embeds along the the way, but the best they could do was let the agents in the areas know I was coming and that I could be there shooting pictures; Jim WatsonI spent time hiking the trails in Tecate with border agent Luis Barona, and was amazed that we have seismic tools that are triggered by someone walking around in the area. While talking he got a call and we had to go investigate - turned out to be an animal, which is quite common; Jim WatsonIt is fair to say that the Tijuana-San Diego border is one of the more monitored urban spots along the border. In some points you can find up to three fences and/or barriers; Guillermo AriasThe Imperial dunes are amazing desert structures from the wind, with a monstrous border fence cutting straight through their beauty. It seemed like endless desert during that period with only the fence to br ...
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