The Visual Representation of the US/Mexico Border Wall in the Media

Highlight clip: Family on two sides

A year ago, Reading the Pictures won the Howard Chapnick Grant from the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund to do a Salon looking at the media framing of the US/Mexico border wall. With new developments in the story, our focus expanded to include the “zero tolerance” policy, the family separation crisis, and “the caravan.”

This project consisted of four parts: extensive photo research, a live panel discussion, a live audience discussion, and additional imagery and analysis posted on Instagram. In our online discussion, co-produced with the Magnum Foundation, an expert panel examined the visual depiction of the wall, and how photographers and the news media use imagery to frame the politics and the human rights issues surrounding the wall.

In this highlight clip, panelists Griselda San Martin, Nick Oza, Michael Shaw, and Teddy Cruz, discuss San Martin’s exquisite portrait of a family physically and emotionally divided by the US/Mexico border wall.

The Salgado family poses for a portrait. Cesar Salgado and his niece Giselle are on the American side of the fence. Cesar’s parents, siblings, and daughter (third from right) are on the Mexican side. This is the first time Cesar has seen his daughter in 14 years. © Griselda San Martin.

See the full post, including the replay, audience chat, Instagram analysis, and other highlight clips here.

The Reading the Pictures Salon is an on-line, real-time discussion between photojournalists, visual scholars and other visual or subject experts. Each salon examines a set of images relevant to the visual stories of the day with a focus on the media and social media framing of a significant social issue. The photo edit is the key element and driver of each Salon discussion. These 9 photos are derived from an extensive review of the content and themes of published photos representing the depth and breadth of media representation.