American Exodus

• Photographer
  Bing Guan
• Prizes
  Gold in Editorial/General News

In late 2018, Central American migrant caravans began arriving in Tijuana, Mexico by the thousands. Driven from their home countries by poverty, violence, and corruption, the migrants sought safety in numbers and crossed the length of Central America and Mexico. Many did so in hopes of obtaining better lives in the United States. Instead of refuge, they found themselves mired at the border in overcrowded camps and waiting endlessly for their asylum claims to be processed. Those too desperate to wait crossed the border fence into America on their own terms - sometimes with tragic results.

Bing Guan (b. 1992) is an Australian-born American documentary photographer based in Brooklyn, NY. He attended Dartmouth College and holds a B.A. in history from Columbia University. His work explores themes of community, human migration, displacement and self-expression. He currently studies visual journalism at the International Center of Photography in New York City. His images have appeared in The Intercept, The Phnom Penh Post, and Rugby Today.