Season Four, Episode 07

Colombian-born Alvaro Enciso has placed over 300 crosses throughout the Sonoran Desert, at sites where migrants have died.
Since 2000, over 4,200 migrants have perished in the Arizona desert. Migrant death map courtesy of Humane Borders.
Using the death map provided by Humane Borders, Enciso travels to sites where migrants have deceased throughout southern Arizona.
"My project has a little bit of performance art. You walk on the footsteps of someone who died at a particular place and you are putting a marker in a space, and that marker turns it into a sacred space in a way." - Alvaro Enciso
Just one of the sites we visited with Alvaro. Wilmer Sucuzhanay Peralta, age 27. Map courtesy of Humane Borders.
"The deaths that occur here are the most violent deaths that we can have, because dying from lack of water is horrendous. It leads you to heat stroke. It's a slow, slow, painful death." - Alvaro Enciso
"The American Dream, I learned, is a myth. It doesn't really exist. It's a romanticized idea that this is the land of plenty and you may find it." - Alvaro Enciso
"I think I have put out somewhere between 300 crosses. It's a project that I knew from the beginning that I will never be able to complete, because it's just too many people and just me doing it and I don't have enough life in me." - Alvaro Enciso
Alvaros' crosses on State Route 82 near Sonoita, AZ. 11 Migrants were killed after the vehicle they were riding in overturned.
Enciso builds each cross at home in his workshop in Tucson, AZ.
"This is art without a viewer. But for me, it was the idea that I'm marking sites where a tragedy occurred." - Alvaro Enciso
At home in his studio in Tucson, Enciso continues to sell art as a means to fund his larger project.

Season Four, Episode 07

Where Two Lines Meet

Where Two Lines Meet

A story of self-discovery in a new land and death in the desert.

Since the year 2000, more than 4,000 border-crossers have met a gruesome fate throughout the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. With over 1,000-and-counting still missing, the numbers have only continued to rise as more attempt the trek each year in pursuit of a better life. This is the story of Alvaro Encisco, an immigrant who found his own version of the myth of the American dream, and with his art, has been on a mission giving a voice to the seekers who have died in search of theirs.

Produced by Mike Martinez, Tyler Wray, and Grace Heerman. Music by Mike Etten. Sound design by George Drake, Jr.

Photos by Clarke Tolton

For more information on migrant deaths and and the effort to build awareness, you can visit Humane Borders.

Transcript
Transcript
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