but every single object I find is valuable . Every object holds a mystery , suggesting a journey and an ordeal . Some people refer to these belongings as “ trash .” I find them precious and heartbreaking . I think both Guillermo and I have felt a responsibility to present , and represent , each object with respect and careful consideration .
ANDREA : You ’ ve photographed so much . Was there ever a time , or were there a few times , that you thought okay , enough . I have hundreds of pictures now .
RICHARD : Actually , at least with the border project , I know that I could keep going . It could go on for years because it ’ s inexhaustible . There are so many layers and dimensions . You ’ re an image-maker too so you know this experience , when you go out you see people experience very different things . You get ten people who go out to the border and come back with really different pictures , really different ideas of what they ’ ve seen . I ended up making about eight cantos for the Desert Cantos project , but I probably could spend another ten years doing it because there ’ s just so much more . And most of the work I did was on the U . S . side of the border . I did go on the other side and explore . I thought about photographing it for a while , and then I felt like it just wasn ’ t right for me , as an American , to be representing the Mexican side . So I decided I ’ d just represent what I understood about America on this side of the border . There ’ s a whole other story on the other side .
ANDREA : Can you say more about that decision ? Was it a matter of being respectful ? I think if it were me , I ’ d be curious enough that I ’ d want to show it .
RICHARD : Yeah , good question . And it ’ s a little complicated , but it would be like if I was doing a book on women ’ s perspectives on the planet and just called it , a woman ’ s view , and then signed it Richard Misrach . You ’ d go , “ What ? That doesn ’ t make any sense .” On the other side of the border , the poverty is so dramatic . I ’ m not Mexican so I didn ’ t feel that it was my place to speak for that culture . There are a couple images in the book , of course , because I just thought they were so important , but I purposely didn ’ t spend another three to five years there , which I could have done . I just felt like it was not my place to represent that . It was a kind of a moral , ethical decision that was hard to make as a photographer because being a photographer gives you license to do a certain amount , but there are always limits . And I felt that was a limit .
ANDREA : How do you define those limits ? Has that definition changed over time for you ?
RICHARD : Definitely . I have some thoughts about American privilege and white privilege and male privilege . I try to be conscious of those things and if I ’ m having qualms I back off . But there ’ s definitely been a change over time . I ’ m sure that I angered a lot of people with my first book , Telegraph 3 A . M . In this project I did Bruce Davidson and Dorothy Lang-like portraiture on the street in Berkeley , California when I was very young . I loved the project , but I was putting people on display and it wasn ’ t right . At the time I thought I was going to bring social change . I was very innocent and idealistic . I thought , “ I ’ m going to show people how people are living on the street and that ’ s going to create social change .” It didn ’ t . I ended up with a coffee table book , a two-person show at ICP in New York and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship grant , but it didn ’ t change a thing . I realized that there is a disconnect between what photographers want to be doing , and what their work actually does in the world . I think photography is a really important contribution to our society and the world is a much better place for having it , but it does have issues embedded in it .
ANDREA : What effect would you like your work to have in the world ?
RICHARD : I hope the work brings home humanitarian issues ; and I think the collaboration with Guillermo really helps . The policy issues are clearly complicated . The Trumpian idea of building a wall and making Mexico pay for it : that ’ s just stupid . Wendy Brown has written a really interesting book arguing that we ’ re building a wall as a political spectacle because the old model of national sovereignty is
Following spread : Richard Misrach , John Doe , pauper ’ s grave , Holtville , California , 2013 .
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