Walking Juárez is a collection of photographs and stories gathered from the streets and byways of Juárez and El Paso -La Frontera- by photographer Bruce Berman.
In this document are stories of migrants, laborers, musicians, children at play, romance at the river, the abandoned, grave painters, grieving relatives of the fallen in the recent Cartel War, and people of deep faith.
Berman’s photographs are time capsules and his text is personal, crisp, and insightful.
In the end, Berman’s search “to give face” to the border leads him to a realization that it is he who gained “face” through his encounters while walking in Juárez.
Walking Juárez is a meditation and an ode to the enduring people of the borderlands. It is a glimpse into the heart of a Mexican city that lives between its heritage to the south but unavoidably looks over its shoulder to the north, to El Paso, to the ever present USA.
Berman’s walk goes from youthful exuberance to a mature meditation on time, hope, ambition and finally, acceptance.
It is not a journey soon forgotten.
