South Asian Crossing Borders

FESCH.TV INFORMIERT:

A very sophisticated black market industry has grown up to traffic and smuggle Pakistani and other South Asian migrants seeking better living conditions. It is one of the most expensive forms of travel on earth. Eight acres of agricultural land in Pakistan sells for approximately $50,000, which happens to also be the approximate cost of this voyage through Latin America, which begins in Brazil and ends at the US border. The cost of this migrant journey is indexed to the cost of Partition land. It signifies an ongoing economy of migration where land and territory is currency.

This process is, of course, entirely without any guarantee for travellers that they will be able to stay in either the United States or Canada. This story touches not only on migration, but also on international business and social media. For instance the black market companies use WhatsApp to transmit photos to their Latin American fixers in order to identify clients at different stages of the journey. In this way social media provides ad hoc identity documents for people lacking official papers. My project explores the relationship of land, money, access, hope and dreams. I see this reflected in my interviews, as well as the anonymous yet personal videos uploaded by travellers, which I have presented in a video grid.

Ubaid ur Rehman
Insta @Ubaid0092
@2021
www.ubaidrehman.com