The Roads Most Traveled

Albuquerque, NM – After almost 4 decades working along the U.S./Mexico border, Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist Don Bartletti believes migration for survival is as old as humanity, unstoppable as the wind and frequently misunderstood. In his 1-hour illustrated lecture he details how he photographed courage, fear, joy, hate, hope and heartbreak on both sides of this political boundary.

The New Mexico Humanities Council is hosting Bartletti’s presentation of The Road Most Traveled: Causes and Consequences of Illegal Immigration  as well as a full slate of events in Albuquerque on Oct. 4-5.

Like a visual anthropologist Bartletti takes his audience through 38 years and 1200-miles of the border fence. In 1979 it’s little more than barbed wire pounded into the mud by thousands of feet; in the mid-80’s it looks like a schoolyard barrier with countless hands clinging to the chain links. By the turn of the 21^st Century it’s a 2-story barrier topped with coiled razor wire between Tijuana and San Ysidro. On the east side of the Colorado River it’s a 12-ft-high steel plate that extends arrow straight across miles and miles of the vast Sonoran desert. Along the winding Rio Grande River in Texas the steel pickets occasionally take a shortcut, putting some ranches and homes on the south side of the fence.

Bartletti is unapologetic about his success as a documentary photojournalist, “It took a great amount of research, an exhausting amount of time and a fair amount of luck. The easy part was being honest and ethical.”

On the U.S. side of the border, deportation, nativist backlash and protests large and small are fodder for pundits, politicians and your neighbors. Bartletti’s narration of his photographs is mercifully devoid of spin about America’s most politically charged debate. He keeps us clearly focused on what he witnessed in real time.

Reflecting on the importance of photojournalism, he says, “Ethical reporting with a camera organizes the chaos of life.” Bartletti continued, “The hard won right to visually document our democracy in all its grandeur and intimacy creates the real time evidence we need for contemporary reflection and historical preservation.”

In 2003, his 6-part photo essay in the Los Angeles Times, “Enrique’s Journey” was awarded a Pulitzer for Feature Photography. Bartletti was the first U.S. photojournalist to document the ongoing Central American diaspora of children clinging to freight trains and their dreams of crossing into the U.S.

Bartletti retired from the Los Angeles Times in late 2015. He is a guest lecturer and teacher at universities, high schools and civic organizations in the U.S. and Mexico. His photographs have been exhibited in museums internationally and are published in books and scholarly studies.

Visit our website at www.nmhumanities.org for details on these programs with Don Bartletti, or call (505)633-7374.

Reception (tickets required)

KiMo Theatre Gallery

Exclusive, catered reception: Meet and mingle with Don Bartletti before the lecture.

Lecture: The Road Most Traveled: Causes and Consequences of Illegal Immigration

KiMo Theatre

FREE and open to the public

Bartletti will discuss the lives he chronicled during his long career on the border in his talk. This program is free and open to the public.

Nob Hill Photo Walk

Tickets Required; space limited to 15 people

Bring your camera and get exclusive photo critiques from a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist. All levels welcome!

Exhibit: Enrique’s Journey

Public Reception: October 5 │ 6:00 pm

New Mexico Humanities Council Gallery

FREE and open to the public

Don Bartletti’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photo essay documenting the harrowing migration of 1000’s of Central Americans through Mexico clinging to freight trains will be on exhibit at the New Mexico Humanities Council.

The Roads Most Traveled is part of the “Democracy and the Informed Citizen” initiative, which is administered by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and coordinated locally by the New Mexico Humanities Council. The series is aimed at deepening the public’s knowledge and appreciation of the interconnections joining democracy, the humanities, journalism and an informed citizenry. Special thanks go to The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for its generous support of the initiative and to the Pulitzer Prizes for their partnership.

The New Mexico Humanities Council (NMHC) seeks to engage New Mexicans with history, culture and diverse humanities topics through public programming. NMHC is located at 4115 Silver SE, Albuquerque, NM. Our doors are open Monday through Friday, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm. Learn more at www.nmhumanities.org.