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Free Roaming Studios

visual storytelling to inspire action

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The New American Dreamers

A photo essay series created by photographers Sylvia Johnson and Kerry Sherck, and produced in partnership with the Santa Fe Dreamers Project, The New American Dreamers is a positive reframe of who many of the immigrants living in our midst are. Each of the Dreamers profiled in this series was brought to the US as a young child and most of them have grown up almost exclusively here. Their stories reflect the dreams, hopes, challenges, and ambitions that are inherent to all of us as human beings. In the context of such a toxic environment currently being perpetuated about immigrants in this country, this project flips the narrative for a closer, more human look at the stories of incredible Dreamers who are our friends, clients, and neighbors.

This series was featured in a 2017 exhibit at the Rubin Center for Visual Arts in El Paso. 

WHO ARE DREAMERS?

Dreamers are young people who came into the US prior to June 15, 2012 and before their sixteenth birthday. They have been granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) which is a kind of administrative relief from deportation that gives them the right to work and go to school in the US. It is renewable every two years.

 

The number one thing I always tell myself is, "I wanna make six-year-old Ali proud." Cuz she was the one with all the absolute insane dreams that I wouldn't tell anyone. I always loved music and liked the thought of the mechanics behind it, but I n
It’s been 11 years now that I haven't seen my mom. We used to live in Iowa. She left me with my siblings when she moved. She moved because she was sick, and didn't want to get treatment here, so she asked me, "Do you want to stay, or do you want to
Being a teacher... it's the best thing I could have chosen to do in my life. The thing I love most is seeing the kids happy, and actually being there to listen to them. Maybe they are having trouble at home, and I can be that person they come to whe
I  think what drew me to music was just listening to it in the car, and wondering like, “I wonder how they play that?” I wanted to recreate that type of music. I like to explore different things and see if I can make it work. My main instrument
I have two kids, my little boy is eight, and my little girl almost three. They're hard work, but they kind of make everything worth it. I had my little boy my senior year. I still had about four months to go after he was born, and I stuck to it. I m
When I was in elementary school and middle school and even into high school I was kinda chubby and short, and I got bullied a lot.  I had to overcome that bullying. My dad helped me with working out. He got some dumbbells at some gym. I rememb
My favorite thing about playing soccer is that it's a stress reliever. You know when we're on the field playing, it’s like the whole world just pauses and you're just there ready to play the game. Obviously to compete and win, but most importantly
Being a woman in this petroleum industry is really interesting. You look around the classroom and sometimes you are the only female in there out of 30 people. You just kind of feel inspired that you are going to work as hard as you can to make a go

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