Back in the early 2000s, an Arizona artist took a day job to pay the bills. It was a choice that would eventually transform his entire perspective.
Full conversation
SAM DINGMAN: It’s a Tuesday morning in Ajo, Arizona — about 40 miles from Mexico. I’m touring the studio of photographer Tom Kiefer.
TOM KIEFER: These are all hand-embroidered montas. These are meant as, like, little food — to hold food.
DINGMAN: They’re beautiful.
KIEFER: They’re incredible. They’re generally made by the woman for their beloved, who’s about to embark on a long journey. So this is a symbol of devotion.
DINGMAN: Kiefer points to the border of the montas, which is made of intricately braided purple fabric.
KIEFER: I mean, I don’t know how many dozens of hours was spent on this. It’s the shape of a flower, the border. And then, in the middle, it has these two birds. And it says: “You are my love.” I mean these are precious.
DINGMAN: Behind the drawer full of montas, there’s a table, where Kiefer has a box of spoons, another one full of deodorant, and a collection of children’s toys, including an orange puppet.
KIEFER: T-Rex, I think.
DINGMAN: That’s — I mean, there’s no practical reason for that on this trip other than…
KIEFER: It meant so much to the person that was carrying it. Perhaps they brought it along because it was gonna be a gift.
DINGMAN: Tom Kiefer’s studio is packed with stuff like this — literally floor to ceiling. Jackets, Bibles, blankets, a compass and thousands — he’s counted — of toothbrushes.
KIEFER: Imagine that you’ve had to leave your house, and that you only had a backpack. And so you take everything that’s important and precious to you, with you. When I found my first Bible and rosary, I was shocked that an item like that would be taken away.
DINGMAN: Kiefer started collecting this stuff back in 2007, when he took a job as a janitor at a Border Patrol station just outside of town.
KIEFER: [The job paid] $10.42 an hour, which was executive pay at least here in Ajo. I moved to Ajo so I could do my photography, which was, photographing our country. The things that make America America.
DINGMAN: The job was pretty simple — basically, lifting giant garbage bags onto a wheelbarrow, and taking them to the dumpster. But one day, Kiefer got curious about why the bags were so heavy. So he looked inside, and discovered that the food that migrants and asylum seekers had been carrying when they arrived at the border was being confiscated and thrown away.
KIEFER: Any food they carried was considered contraband. Cause … you don’t know. There could be drugs in there.
DINGMAN: Kiefer went to his boss and asked permission to take the food from the garbage bags and donate it to a local food bank. His boss said sure. So Kiefer started digging through all the trash bags before he put them on the wheelbarrow.
KIEFER: So I’d go in and dig out the cans of food, and I would see a Bible, a wallet with photos in it, and I would think, holy — what’s going on here?
DINGMAN: Kiefer was appalled at the scope of what was being seized. What, he wondered, was the point of separating people from their underwear and toiletries and food? Or worse, from their hand-sewn montas? Their personal diaries and photographs?
KIEFER: These items were the things that sustained them in their journey here. The policy was, any item considered nonessential or potentially lethal. Would be subject to confiscation. I mean really what it was is punishment. Let’s take away these items that mean so much. It was punitive.
DINGMAN: So Kiefer decided to do something his boss hadn’t given him permission to do. Whenever he opened up a garbage bag to take out unused food, he would also take the personal items. At first, he stored them in his house, and eventually, here at the studio. In 2013, he began to photograph them.
KIEFER: I had to show how extensive this was. I needed a record, to show what was happening.
DINGMAN: Eventually, Kiefer began to exhibit these photographs. He calls the project "El Sueno Americano: The American Dream." Many of the images focus on a single item — a canteen, or a piece of jewelry.
KIEFER: These items should not have been taken in the first place. And the way that I photograph it — it’s simple, yet — well, it’s simple. It isn’t to — I don’t want to get too artistic and carried away. Just …these are the items. Let’s give them their moment to shine. Who carried this? What was their story?
DINGMAN: There also is this way, just as we’re looking at this stuff, that I can’t stop thinking about - there would be no way to photograph the person — so these objects have to stand for the person who carried these things. So in a way, these objects have to stand for the people.
KIEFER: Right. That’s why I want to show them in a way that’s reverence and respect.
DINGMAN: One of the photographs shows an empty bottle of cologne.
KIEFER: You know, they even drank the cologne, to survive. But the other thing is the high alcohol content acted as a salve. You know, so … your arms and legs get all scraped up — it acted like an antiseptic.
DINGMAN: Another image shows a deck of card.
KIEFER: It’s the ace of spades. And there’s this graphic that’s superimposed on top of the ace. And it says: “All in.” I mean — anyone deciding to make that journey? You better believe that they’re all in. I mean, this is America.
