Jonsar Studios: Framing the Immigrant
By Ben Levison
American citizens and photographers Katherine Sarkissian and Robert Johnson have a visceral understanding of the undocumented experience. They spent 15 years in Italy as undocumented immigrants — years that exposed them to the challenges, fears and anxieties of immigrant life. Sarkissian recalls, “We were constantly scared about money; getting paid was always an ordeal. We knew what it was to go through customs with expired visas.” Despite shooting campaigns for Gianni Versace, Giorgio Armani, Salvatore Ferragamo, and others, they lived in a state of constant uncertainty. “We’d go out shooting on the streets,” and if stopped, “. . . knew we might not make it back to our apartment,” says Sarkissian.
It is uncertainty that weighs on the millions of undocumented Americans, including those who arrived in the country before the age of 16, known as DREAMers (approximately 2.1 million people who have been brought to the U.S. as children and left without a way to become citizens). These young immigrants — spanning all ages and races — know no other place as home, yet fear of deportation is constant.
An immigration reform bill put before the United States Senate has proposed a pathway to citizenship — a way for DREAMers and other undocumented immigrants to be formally brought into the American community. It awaits a vote in the House of Representatives before President Obama can sign the bill into law. With a pathway to citizenship, DREAMers would be allowed to more fully participate in American life. According to the Center for American Progress, reform would mean an increase in tax revenues, a decrease in the federal budget deficit and the creation of at least 1.4 million jobs from the DREAMer provisions alone. Reform would also signify a change in tone that recognizes the value of immigrants.
Johnson and Sarkissian hadn’t planned on becoming activists for immigration reform. But given their own immigration saga in Italy, they jumped at the opportunity when an assistant facilitated a connection with FWD.us (“Forward U.S.”), an advocacy group working to pass immigration reform, and the photographers’ studio, Jonsar Studios in Brooklyn, New York.
The project with FWD.us centers on an interactive engagement with New York City residents to capture their stories and their thoughts on the immigration debates in the United States. At various FWD.us public events around New York City, Jonsar builds a mobile photography studio and an interview room to record stories on video. Interviewees stand on a mark, sandwiched between studio lights and a black backdrop, to begin what Sarkissian calls “the dance” of the photograph. Next, they walk into a separate room where Johnson conducts an interview.
Stripping away the layers of punditry, talking points and policy, Jonsar’s stark black and white images do away with distractions, center on a common humanity, and convey that in America we are all immigrants.
