photograph these places with a 35 mm camera as they are about to open in the morning. Their closed facades call attention to the shapes of
the buildings as well as their signage. My archive is organized by date and location. I group together all the businesses I can photograph
in one morning according to their proximity to one another. This classification allows me to compare neighborhoods based on the density of
migrant populations since, often, these stores are located where foreign workers live or work. The proliferation of these types of businesses
speaks about the condition of our global economy, where migration towards the North, specifically towards the US, increases yearly.
Though commercial agreements, such as NAFTA, allow for a cheaper and frequent exchange of capital and goods, human mobility is still restricted,
even if obscurely supported. Undocumented workers in the US, sending money back to their countries of origin, are forced to pay expensive fees
because they are denied the possibility of opening bank accounts. Language boundaries reshape the locations that I shoot into gathering points
where workers who had recently arrived might connect with peers with whom they can identify. By focusing on the buildings as opposed to their
users, I try to respect the anonymity forced on to immigrants due to their legal status in this country.
