Ada Trillo
La Caravana Del Diablo
Dec 7 - 30, 2023
In January of 2020, fleeing violence and poor economic conditions, Hondurans organized a massive migrant caravan that traveled through Guatemala into Mexico. After traveling for 8 days the caravan crossed the Suchiate River into Mexico and were met by the recently established Guardia Nacional comprised of former Federal, Military and Naval Police.
Mexican President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador has historically called for safe passage for migrants, but when US President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs, Mexico reversed its policy and deployed soldiers to keep Central American migrants from entering Mexico.
Migrants attempting to enter Mexico split into two major groups. The largest group crossed the Suchiate River and were tear gassed by the Guardia Nacional. Forced to retreat they waited by the river's edge for two days. Their second attempt to cross the river (at four in the morning) was a success but it was only hours later that the Guardia Nacional surrounded them, put them on buses and sent them back to Honduras.
The smaller group amassed in the border town of El Ceibo in Guatemala and were met by the head of foreign relations in Mexico. He welcomed migrants in groups of 10 to enter Mexico and seek asylum. Migrants were briefly kept in detention centers and, against the head of foreign relation’s word, they were deported back to Honduras without being given the opportunity to seek asylum.
Trump has effectively barred asylum seekers from entering the US by threatening to impose tariffs and cut foreign aid to Central American countries. The human cost of Trump’s political agenda is denying people their fundamental human rights. For many asylum seekers, deportation will result in living a life of extortion, impoverishment and even death. The full effect of Trump's xenaphobic policies toward immigrants and asylum seekers will no doubt be felt for generations to come.
Ada Trillo (Mexican American, b.1976, she/they) is a first-generation, Queer Mexican American artist who combines documentary and fine art elements in her photography. A native of the US-Mexican border raised in the Juarez-El Paso binational metroplex, her work is informed by a deep interest in national and metaphorical borders and modernization processes. She has focused on walls of inclusion and exclusion, such as forced prostitution, climate, and violence-related international migration, and US internal exclusions resulting from long-standing barriers of race and class. Trillo's goal is to bring attention to the impact of these borders on exploited and marginalized people and amplify their voices.
Trillo's first monograph, La Caravana Del Diablo: On the Run from the Northern Triangle to America, was published by Komma (Netherlands, 2021). The book chronicles seven years of traveling with refugees and migrants from Central America to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Trillo's work is in institutions and private collections, including, The Library of Congress, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Some of their awards include The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage Fellowship (2022), The Eddie Adams Workshop Canon Award (2022), The Female In Focus 2020, and The Leeway Foundation Transformation Award.
Trillo's work has appeared in publications such as The Guardian, Vogue, Smithsonian Magazine, and Mother Jones, among other publications. She was also awarded The Me & Eve Grant with the Center of Photographic Arts in Santa Fe and received First Place in editorial with the Tokyo International Foto Awards. Trillo has exhibited nationally and internationally in New York City, Philadelphia, Luxembourg, England, Italy, Germany, and Japan. They hold degrees from the Istituto Marangoni in Milan and Drexel University in Philadelphia and are a member of Diversify Photo.