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Family, hope and resilience on the migrant trail

2,068,562 views | Jon Lowenstein • TEDSummit 2019

For the past 20 years, photographer and TED Fellow Jon Lowenstein has documented the migrant journey from Latin America to the United States, one of the largest transnational migrations in world history. Sharing photos from his decade-long project "Shadow Lives USA," Lowenstein takes us into the inner worlds of the families escaping poverty and violence in Central America -- and pieces together the complex reasons people leave their homes in search of a better life.

For the past 20 years, photographer and TED Fellow Jon Lowenstein has documented the migrant journey from Latin America to the United States, one of the largest transnational migrations in world history. Sharing photos from his decade-long project "Shadow Lives USA," Lowenstein takes us into the inner worlds of the families escaping poverty and violence in Central America -- and pieces together the complex reasons people leave their homes in search of a better life.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Learn more about Jon Lowenstein's work.

Support Shadow Lives, a decade-long project documenting the experiences and lives of the millions of people along the migrant trail.

About the speaker

Jon Lowenstein

Documentary photographer, filmmaker, visual artist

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TED Fellow Jon Lowenstein is a documentary photographer, filmmaker and visual artist whose work reveals what the powers that be are trying to hide.

Luis Alberto Urrea | Little Brown, 2004 | Book

The Devil's Highway: A True Story

One of my favorite reads on the subject. Urrea intimately capture the heartbreaking story of 14 undocumented migrants who died in the summer of 2001 as they tried to cross the desert into the United States. It remains one of the most honest and heart-wrenching portrayals of this oft-politicized issue.

Alfredo Corchado | Penguin Books, 2014 | Book

Midnight in Mexico: A Reporter's Journey Through a Country's Descent into Darkness

A searing personal account of the drug war's devastating impact on one journalist in the US and Mexico.

Pablo Ortiz Monasterio | Twin Palms Publishers, 1995 | Book

The Last City

Inspirational photographic monographs from one of Mexico's finest photographers. Just a wonderfully printed monograph focusing on the chaotic and historic life of Mexico City — and a book that inspired my imagination and my work on migration.

Gabriel García Marquez | Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006 | Book

One Hundred Years of Solitude

This book, along with Love in the Time of Cholera, inspired me before I ever picked up a camera to be open to the complex history of Latin America and the humanity held within this beautiful yet chaotic part of the world.

Rebecca Cammisa | Documentress Films, 2006 | Watch

Which Way Home

Rebecca Cammisa's groundbreaking documentary following the journey of children on the migrant trail from Central America to the United States is monumental and inspirational.

| Explore

Graciela Iturbide

One of Mexico's best-known photographers whose work inspired me early in my careeer and taught me about the heart of Mexico.

| Explore

Immigrant rights group

To get involved and learn more about immigrant rights, I recommend the following organizations: National Day Labor Organizing Network; University of San Diego Trans-Border Institute; Voto Latino; RAICES; and People for the American Way. You can also get in touch with your local US Senator or Congress member.

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This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Learn more about Jon Lowenstein's work.

Support Shadow Lives, a decade-long project documenting the experiences and lives of the millions of people along the migrant trail.