Since mid-2006, Maurice Sherif has been photographing segments of the U.S.-Mexico border wall and questioning how the United States-which sees itself as a champion of law, democracy, and human rights-came to engage in such a project. In his words, "North America is being sliced from sea to shining sea by a metal wall. This metal wall is the United States' answer to the drug industry, to the northward flight of the poor from sinking economies to the south, to every human appetite and need hidden beneath the word 'illegal.' This answer will fail to meet its objectives."
For two thousand miles, both nations are trying to find a way to live with each other while answering the fears and angers of their own citizens. In these volumes, Maurice Sherif and his fellow contributors force us to see the wall from the south, a place where murals recall the dead, where torches cut passageways through the metal, and where the wall shouts,