ENTRY DESCRIPTION
In October 2018, I flew to Chiapas, Mexico, to begin my journey with a caravan of migrants headed for the United States, fleeing poverty, gang violence and crime in Central America. Over the course of several weeks, I traveled nearly 3,000 miles to the US border in Tijuana, documenting the caravan through photography and video. The caravan is more than a hotly debated political issue; it is primarily a humanitarian crisis affecting over 7,000 people - including nearly 3,000 children. The truth that I discovered was far different from the tweets of President Trump, which depict the caravan as an angry mob of gang members, terrorists, and rapists. Instead, I found compassionate and hard-working people banding together for a chance at a better life.

"Ada Trillo brings you face to face with the reality of the migrant crisis at the border. Trillo’s perspective as an artist, mother, and Mexican American creates portraits probing the human cost of the Central American diaspora motivated by destabilized economies."

AUTHOR
Ada Trillo is a fine art photographer based in Philadelphia, PA, and Juarez, Mexico. Trillo holds degrees from the Istituto Marangoni in Milan and Drexel University in Philadelphia. Trillo’s work is concerned with human rights issues facing Latin America. Trillo has documented forced prostitution in Juarez, Mexico, La Bestia, the migrant caravans of 2018 and 2020, and the struggles of asylum seekers directly affected by Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy, in her hometown of Juarez, Mexico. Trillo has exhibited internationally at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, The Photo Meetings in Luxembourg, The Passion for Freedom Art Festival in London, Festival Internazionale di Fotografia in Cortona Italy and at the Anya and Andrew Shiva Gallery at the John Jay College in New, York. In 2017, Trillo received a Leeway Foundation’s Art and Change Grant. Her work has been featured in The British Journal of Photography, The Guardian and Smithsonian Magazine. Trillo was recently awarded a CFEVA Fellowship by The Center For Emerging Visual Artists and was named the Visual Artist-in-Residence for Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia. Her work is included in the permanent collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Trillo was awarded First Place in Editorial Photos with the Tokyo International Foto Awards, The ME&Eve grant with the Center of photographic arts in Santa Fe. She recently was awarded first price of Focus Photo LA.

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