Traveling Soles
About the Project
Verónica Gabriela Cardenas began working on Traveling Soles in the summer of 2014 when the Humanitarian Respite Center opened in McAllen, TX. She photographed 250 pairs of shoes from the HRC in various places around the Rio Grande Valley. At that point, 250 was the largest number of people to arrive at the center in a single day. In the weeks after Donald Trump was elected in November 2016, that number grew to 433 in a single day. Traveling Soles — The title is a play on words, which could mean “Traveling Soles” or Traveling Souls.”
About the Artist
Cárdenas is a documentary photography based in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. Her work explores issues surrounding migration and has been shown at the United Nations, Long Island City Arts, and the Festival of International Books and Arts among other locations. Publications featuring her work include TIME, The Guardian, The New York Times, and El Mundo. More information is available through the artist’s website at veronicagabriela.com.
Curator’s Statement
from Dr. Andrea J. Pitts, Department of Philosophy
Migration from Central America and Mexico to the United States has a long and complicated history. U.S. interventionism, civil wars, infrastructural adjustment programs, land disputes, gang violence, and poverty are among the many reasons that migrants travel north to the United States. Yet, often the choices that people make that lead to their decisions to migrate vary from family to family, village to village, and person to person. This means that those who are interested in migration, and specifically the histories and politics of migration impacting countries like El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Mexico, must listen to the stories of the very people who are leaving places that they once called “home.” See more in the exhibit catalog
