#theilegalsmile

A WALL AGAINST YOU TO COME… When I moved all my life to another place, even if its close from the last, I used to be the sensation that a part of me stays in that other place is strong enough, the much that I feel divided. My heart is in pieces, a part of it is with my family, another is with my friends, another is with my career… I’m an ALIEN, an ILLEGAL, AN IMMIGRANT. Is inacceptable to me and gave impotence when I heard about racism and intolerance, Being an alien in a country where the president himself treats the immigrants with this disrespect and it hurts, and makes me say something, do something to change it. So I take my camera and go meet new people, who work hard for their families to take to another country, who leave everything behind with the hope of a better future, like I do, but the reality is different, everybody speaks about the “American dream” and nobody specifies what type of dream is going to be. But we pack some clothes, some pictures and all our beautiful memories. We said goodbye and we get divided forever. But we, the immigrants, the illegals, are always painted with pain in the face and must of all without the smile in our faces, like we have lost or left in our country, but no, the smile is still there, the honest one, the smile that grows from the aches, to rebuild our self and have a dignity to life. I meet these people, they trust me and allow me to capture them with my camera, I try to capture the stories they told me, I try to capture this big enthusiasm to have a better future, I try to capture their most honest smile because now everytime I hear about the people who hate I will hit them hard with a beautiful and honest smile… Azuay Lopez