Emerging
Xavier Goins
Xavier Goins / Built of Jade
Built of Jade I use photography as a tool for exploring the relationships I
of opportunity. Before being allowed to land on the West
develop with people and places I am interested in. For my
Coast, immigrants would undergo lengthy detentions at the
project “Built of Jade,” I asked the last of the living former
Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay. The
detainees of the Angel Island Immigration Station to reflect
purpose of the station was to exclude people, rather than
on this experience. This historical event occurred between
include them, particularly those of non-European ethnicity
1910 and 1940 when millions of people crossed the Pacific
who were often then deported. By tracing these historical
Ocean towards America to escape poverty, oppression
narratives to the present day, my intention is to spark dialogue
and war in their native countries. Fleeing from China, Japan
about immigration histories and how they relate to modern
and Nazi-occupied Germany, they sought to reach a land
immigration concerns.
@xaviergoinsphotography
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