Tom Kiefer

Photographer Tom Kiefer in his studio in in Ajo, Arizona, near the U.S. – Mexico border.

While working as a janitor at a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol detention center in Ajo, Arizona, photographer Tom Kiefer collected countless personal belongings that were taken away from undocumented immigrants for ‘security reasons’. The personal items such as rosaries, bibles, belts, toys, toothbrushes, toothpaste, lighters, soap, combs, flagrance, pictures, clothing, just to name a few … would have been thrown away if he hadn’t rescued them from garbage bins.

Tom Kiefer stores and photographs the hundreds of personal items for his project “Sueno Americano Project” (“American Dream”) at his studio. Major exhibitions and publications have featured his work, like the New Yorker , CNN and lensculture

More about Tom Kiefer‘s work on his website