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Anonymous 1
New Mexico, USA
Images by Anonymous 1 and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 14#
español • oprima 15#
Installation: Genoveva Chavez Community Center
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“As I have gotten older things have changed. My parents got a divorce that sent me for loop. It makes me feel like I don’t have a home. It gets hard when one parent ditches and the other one looses’ his mind. I’ve learned to deal with it though, oh well can’t do much. I live every day in the hope of finding something new.”
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Anonymous 2
Illinois, USA
Images by Anonymous 2 and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 50#
español • oprima 51#
Installation: East Santa Fe River Park
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“I was born in Sterling, Illinois, a small town in north western Illinois and I have been in Santa Fe for about 7 years now, this fall, I became part of the El Otro Lado project by attending a women’s circle and I was presented with a journal at that time and invited to use it to tell a journey and I found myself playing with colored markers and colored pencils and although my Spanish is not very good and certainly never practiced for the past many years, the women in the circle were speaking Spanish so I found myself writing in Spanish."
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Anonymous 3
New Mexico, USA
Images by Anonymous 3 and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 16#
español • oprima 17#
Installation: Railyard District
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“I have lived in New Mexico all of my life. I was brought up in Cerrillos and remained the rest of my teenage years out on Highway 14. My ancestors came from Spain and had a traditional lifestyle, which has made me proud to be a New Mexican. Sometimes I am called a Mexican but it does not matter whether we are called a Chicana, Latina or Mexicana because we all have the same color of skin. I have had a lot of friends come and go in my life. I have met a lot of cool, funny, crazy and awesome friends and people in my seventeen years of my journey in life.”
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Anonymous 4
New Mexico, USA
Images by: Anonymous 4 and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 36#
español • oprima 37#
Installation: Genoveva Chavez Community Center
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“It is weird when you ask someone who they are they will tell you, you ask me that question and I cannot answer. I do not know who I am or what I am doing any more. Its like as if I am running around in a daze. I try to take my pain out with an empty fifth bottle and green leaves. Taking mushrooms to find a way but nothing ever happens. Imagine being on a trip 24/7 except without drugs. Only it is real life, where you feel worthless all the time and not suicidal but wishing something bad would happen to end my life.
Why do I feel this way?”
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Anonymous 5
Argentina
Images by: Anonymous 5 and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 34#
español • oprima 35#
Installation: City Hall
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“Journey to me means the steps you take in your life. Everybody goes through a journey, no matter who they are, where they are from or what they have been through. Some journeys are harder than others. We sometimes have to travel to better our lives and just to survive. It has been hard journey for me. I still have a long way to go. I can only hope for the best.”
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Anonymous 6
Colorado, USA
Images by: Anonymous 6 and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 38#
español • oprima 39#
Installation: Frenchy’s Field
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“I feel in conclusion that I really am living between two worlds; I think all of us are. These worlds are the worlds of the soul and the heart and then the physical world. In the way that we are always looking toward the other side or El Otro Lado. It is part of our human nature.”
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Anonymous 7
Mexico
Images by: Anonymous 7 and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 22#
español • oprima 23#
Installation: City Hall
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“I was born in Veracruz, Mexico a beautiful land where there is a lot of water and a lot of tourists go there because of the beach.
All my family live in Veracruz. I lived there until I was eight years old. After that I made the long journey with my Mom to the United States for a better future and for better education for me. When we got to this country my Mom had no money so she stared working really hard. We struggled a lot but after some time we bought a beautiful house and a car so we could move around.”
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8. "Alex"
NM, United States
Images by: Alex Lujan and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 40#
español • oprima 41#
Installation: Southside Library
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“My family is from Spain. My great grandmother’s mother came on a boat from Spain and settled here in New Mexico. My family speaks Spanish but I can only say yes or no. I would like to learn the language someday. I love to make tortillas with my Grandma Dolores. They are so much fun to make. After they are made we eat them hot off the stove with butter.”
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9. "Bradley"
Barbados
Images by: Bradley Babb and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 12#
español • oprima 13#
Installation: Cross of the Martyrs
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“I remember my first experience of New Mexico, I was culture shocked, it reminded me so much of Barbados although it’s still not similar in a lot of ways because there’s not Spanish people in Barbados there’s English people in Barbados but yet the little streets and the dirt roads and all that stuff really reminded me of Barbados a lot. So instantly I fell in love.”
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| 10. "Byung"
Korea
Images by: Byung Jin Lee and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 18#
español • oprima 19#
Installation: Southside Library
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“It’s funny I am not a citizen of the United States. I do have a green card and I have a Korean passport but I do consider myself American. I know that I don’t really even think of being Korean until, sometimes people, maybe make a comment or they say something and I go, Oh yeah, I am Asian.”
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11. "Carlos"
Dominican Republic
Images by: Carlos Mora and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 20#
español • oprima 21#
Installation: Genoveva Chavez Community Center
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“I was born in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic, an island in the Caribbean. I currently live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Home to me is within myself. What I mean is that I carry home with me wherever I go, wherever I am. Home to me is not a place any more. Home to me is becoming almost likLaue a state of being. Home is Santa Fe and it is also the Dominican Republic.”
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| 12. "Helga"
Brazil
Images by: Helga von Sydow Ancona and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 24#
español • oprima 25#
Installation: Bicentennial Pool
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“It has been over forty years that I came for a brief visit to New York and fate or chance transformed my visit into a lifetime stay. Like my great grandfather and father this is where I got married, had my children and made my life and will probably never return to my country of origin except for brief visits to renew my love for the land and those that are dear to me. The ambiguity of not totally belonging will forever remain.
I am a German Brazilian married to the son of Mexicans living in the United States.”
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13. "José"
Mexico
Images by: José Madrid and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 52#
español • oprima 53#
Installation: Southside Library
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“My life started in I992 I was born in Cuautémoc, Chihuahua in Mexico. My parents decided to go to the other side when I was just two months old. I could barely open my eyes. I had no choice. My whole family came here to the US for a better future, a better life and a better education. I am thankful that my whole family came here to Santa Fe, New Mexico.”
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14. "Lin"
China
Images by: Lin Yan Wenes and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 28#
español • oprima 29#
Installation: De Vargas Park
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“I call myself a Chinese American. I feel more American than I do Chinese even though I look more Chinese than American. But I also kind of think that living in America, I think it kind of changed the way I look because, I don’t know how to explain it, I feel, to me, I kind of look more like a Chinese American, like I was born here, I guess. Where as if I still lived in China, I think I would look kind of different, I mean not much different but I think it has kind of changed the way I look.”
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15. "Lina"
Mexico
Images by: Lina Saenz and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 42#
español • oprima 43#
Installation: Los Acequias Park
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“Here in the United States borders do not just affect those that cross it for a better future but also their children. Because you wake up and every morning that that child’s parents go out to work and try their hardest for a better life that child knows that at any unexpected moment their parents could be deported. I do not think it is right that any child should live with such a great fear of a separation like that.”
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16. "Luis"
Mexico
Images by: Luis Pérez and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 26#
español • oprima 27#
Installation: De Vargas Park
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“I was three when I came over here to the United States. I do not really remember but my mom tells me stories about when we came over here,
I can’t remember anything. The reason we came to the Untied States was because of the crisis in Mexico. When the new President came in, he raised everything, the food, the gas, and everything. We had a small little store over there and when everything went up people were not buying food from us so we had to close it down.”
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17. "Lys"
Mexico
Images by: Lys Verduzco and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 32#
español • oprima 33#
Installation: Los Acequias Park
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“As I got a little older and was more susceptible to social dynamics, I realized that I did not quite belong anywhere in particular. My heart was Mexican but I have light skin and though I communicate well in Spanish people have such a hard time getting past my appearance. There are plenty of Mexicans with light skin or hair but Mexicans in the States don’t seem to have that recollection. It’s funny because even nowadays it’s only when I dance that people wonder where I am from because there is definitely Latin flare in my movement.”
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| 18. "Marlene"
Germany
Images by: Marlene Fischer and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 46#
español • oprima 47#
Installation: Railyard District
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“When I came here to Tucson, in fact, and I got my green card and the finger printing. The guy in the immigration office, ah he was so up set with me because I sweated so much from fear so he had to wipe my fingers because the ink did not take and he had to keep doing it over and over. So then I said I can look for a job so I opened the paper but I could not read so I found my way through the ads with a dictionary and I would just call but of course for the longest time I was not hired even though I was trained as a dental assistant and surgery assistant, but my English was not good. So I went to the community college and learned but for a long time it was a handicap.”
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19. "Pamela"
Mexico and USA (IL)
Images by: Pamela Sher Verduzco and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 10#
español • oprima 11#
Installation: East Santa Fe River Park
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“I never felt like part of the United States my whole life. I still don’t really. I’m an American; I have Mexican friends in different parts of the States who feel this about me. I am not an American. I was raised here everything about me, my social cultural background would indicate that I am an American. My mother Italian, my father Russian but I have never felt it. In Mexico I did not necessarily feel Mexican but I felt more at home down there.”
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20. "Paulita"
Mexico
Images by: Paulita and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 2#
español • oprima 3#
Installation: Los Acequias Park
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“I ask for help with all my heart, to those that can help us. If not now, then later. Every Mexican who comes here wants to work. We do it because we need to, so the families can get ahead, here and in Mexico. I ask sincerely to those that hear this recording, if they can help or do dome thing for all Mexicans.”
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21. "Qing Bei"
China
Images by: Qing Bei Wenes and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 30#
español • oprima 31#
Installation: Bicentennial Pool
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“I have been to three places out of the US: Mexico, Europe, and Canada. My favorite animal is a panda. I love pandas because they are from China just like me. I used to put “made in China stickers” on me. I love web kins. My favorite holiday is Halloween and my best friend is Hanna and she is not even Chinese.”
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| 22. "Ricardo"
Mexico
Images by: Ricardo and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 8#
español • oprima 9#
Installation: De Vargas Park
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“I am 18 years old, things are getting rough and I do not know what I am going to do in my future.
I do not know right now.
I am thinking should I work to put food on the table or continue with my education, but even if I decide to work it is going to be complicated because of my immigration status. It is painful leaving everything behind. You leave friends and family and everything to come here and live in the shadows. It’s sad that living in the richest country of the world we have to live in fear. It is not just me but millions of other immigrants from different places around the world. I definitely know that other people suffer much more than I do but somehow they keep fighting for a better future.”
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23. "Rossana"
Guatemala
Images by: Rossana and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 4#
español • oprima 5#
Installation: East Santa Fe River Park
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“As I was walking in the desert I was hoping that my girls would arrive safely. I had seen in the news that children disappear, that they rape them; I wanted to walk faster and faster so I could get there before them. My sister, who was walking next to me, said: do not worry, the girls are going to be fine and they will arrive before us, lets keep walking. We ran, and ran but there was no end. There were thorns, rocks. We had no water, nothing to drink. We would fall and rise up again, it was horrible. A very hard journey.”
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| 24. "Shaheen"
Afghanistan
Images by: Shaheen Rassoul and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 48#
español • oprima 49#
Installation: City Hall
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“I was born in Kabul; Kabul, Afghanistan in 1975. Now I live here in Mazar-e-Sharif, which is the capital city of the province named Balkh. Balkh province is north Afghanistan and this is where I am going to be living for a while. But if I were to talk about my home I would say that my home is Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I showed up with my mother, in about 1979, fresh across the border. We came across the Pakistani border, she disguised as an Indian dancer and me on her back. We began the long journey.”
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25. "Sister Silvia"
Mexico
Images by: Sister Silvia Gómez and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 6#
español • oprima 7#
Installation: Frenchy's Field
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“Even if we have a different color of our skin we are still humans, even if we speak different languages, we still have a heart, we still have minds, we still have, you know what everybody has. We are the same. We are the same.”
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| 26. "Urzula"
Poland
Images by: Urzula Bolimowski and Chrissie Orr
Audio Story
Online Access: English • español
Phone Access: 505-204-7064
English • press 44#
español • oprima 45#
Installation: Frenchy’s Field
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“I have certainly moved homes a lot and I do not know where this nomadic experience came from but obviously looking at the history of my parent’s life, I suppose I have been working something out.
The concept that the home is where the heart is seems to come out of all of this. And yet Santa Fe has been a very spiritually deepening kind of place and I really can’t say what is next but until something else knocks on my door I would say that Santa Fe just has that magical embrace and the rest is a big mystery.”
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themselves to this project by actively keeping journals to record their passage from one side to another. With images, text and voice they speak for all who will make their own crossing. They have allowed us to enter their worlds and have shared their struggles and joys; their courage and despair, their hopes and dreams and they have opened us to a new and dynamic Santa Fe.
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