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Xavier Goins

from Emerging Photographer, Vol. 11, No. 1

from Emerging Photographer, Vol. 11, No. 1, page 14

Ava Williams

I use photography as a tool for exploring the relationships I develop with people and places I am interested in. For my project “Built of Jade,” I asked the last of the living former detainees of the Angel Island Immigration Station to reflect on this experience. This historical event occurred between 1910 and 1940 when millions of people crossed the Pacific Ocean towards America to escape poverty, oppression and war in their native countries. Fleeing from China, Japan and Nazi-occupied Germany, they sought to reach a land

of opportunity. Before being allowed to land on the West Coast, immigrants would undergo lengthy detentions at the Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay. The purpose of the station was to exclude people, rather than include them, particularly those of non-European ethnicity who were often then deported. By tracing these historical narratives to the present day, my intention is to spark dialogue about immigration histories and how they relate to modern immigration concerns.

@xaviergoinsphotography

This article is from:

Emerging Photographer, Vol. 11, No. 1

by Photo+