Ada Trillo
Joanna
Photograph
26" x 39-1/5", framed 35" x 48"
A.P of an edition of 3

About the Work
Trans_Borders

Between 2015 and 2020, chances of asylum for Latin American trans women seeking asylum in El Paso, TX increased by 60% when a New York judge heard their cases.

Joana like so many women in the LGBTQ+ community from Central America suffered from physical and verbal abuse and extortion in her country. The danger of falling victim to homophobic-related crimes is so extreme for trans women in countries like El Salvador that the life expectancy is 35 years.

"Yo pasé por dos cárteles por 9 meses porque me brinque la barda. Después como castigo me mandaron a la hielera por 13 días sin banarme comiendo solo galletas y jugo. Después de alli empiezo mi proceso de Asilo en los Estados Unidos."

"I went through two jails for nine months because I jumped the border wall. Then, as punishment, I was sent to the icebox for 13 days without being allowed to take a shower and eating only cookies and juice. Then my asylum process started in the United States."

Bio
Ada Trillo (she/they) Is first-generation Mexican-American artist based on the East Coast. Born and raised in the U.S./ Mexican border region of Juarez and El Paso, her work focuses on sex trafficking, climate and violence-related international migration, and long-standing barriers of race and class.

"I see myself as an artist...who captures the face of injustice with the hopes that history can stop repeating itself".

Trillo documents the migration of people through Central America and the US-Mexico border while traveling alongside her subjects through dangerous conditions. Trillo typically exhibits images in black and white, focusing on her protagonists and capturing "the spark, the feelings in their eyes." Her projects have been featured in international publications, including The Guardian, Vogue, Smithsonian Magazine, and Mother Jones. Trillo's work is in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and other institutional and private collections. Her awards include The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage Fellowship, The British Journal of Photography Female In Focus Best Series Award, and The Me & Eve Grant from the Center of Photographic Arts in Santa Fe (2020). Trillo's images have been exhibited in the U.S., Japan, Luxembourg, Italy, England, France, and Germany. She holds degrees from the Istituto Marangoni in Milan and Drexel University in Philadelphia.

InLiquid, www.adatrillo.com