Project Portfolio
v i s u a l i z i n g i m m i g r a n t P h o e n i x
Our explorations of immigrant Phoenix began in fall semester 2016, with a team of five undergraduate researchers, and continued in spring 2017 with 6 researchers.
GOOD NEWS! Our project merited another NCUIRE award to enable us to continue the project in spring 2018, with a brand new five-person team and one student from last spring continuing as research assistant.
What can you expect? MORE brief photo essays, curated photo sets, audio atmospherics, observational commentaries, exhibitions, etc.
Brief interviews and portraits of migrants we met while going about their daily activities. Some have lived in metro Phoenix for a long time, and others arrived recently.
Observations of events and activities in which migrants are key participants, from local manifestations of global religious sites, to cultural festivals, organized events, soccer leagues, etc.
The urban equivalent of landscapes, these cityscapes invite us to explore how migrants shape the city as a scene, as urban environment, as designed configuration of built form and interstitial spaces.
Objects and items of significance to migrants that help us understand who they are and their contribution to our urban community.
Migrants live throughout the Phoenix metro area, but some census tracts are near or over 50% "foreign born." We explore some of these areas in an effort to visualize and appreciate immigrant presence.
Immigrants are more entrepreneurial than native-born Americans, owning businesses at a higher rate than their percentage of the US population and a whopping 28% of Main Street businesses. They also constitute a significant and growing consumer market. Here we explore businesses that are migrant-owned or cater to immigrant tastes and cultural needs.