"Abandoned" Series

The "Abandoned" Series was photographed on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay at the historic landmark that was variously a military post, a US Health Department Quarantine Station, an Immigration Station, an embarkation station for WW I troops, and a Nike missile station from 1954 until their removal in 1962. But what is most poignant are the stories of the immigrants, especially the Chinese, who traveled with great hopes only to be essentially imprisoned here, some for years. The image of the wall shows poetry written in Cantonese by those detained here. The authorities would plaster and paint over them, but the wall would be filled again. This happened seven times--seven layers of poetry and hope, seven layers of plaster and paint. Some of those layers have cracked off, but the wall still speaks.