Experience an immersive VR journey through the life of immigrants at the border until the touring exhibition journeys on.
Denver is the first stop on Carne y Arena’s nationwide tour after the exhibition debuted in Washington D.C. as an eye-opening experience for congresspeople to grapple with real accounts of the violence at the border. Alejandro Iñárritu, known for his masterpieces, The Revenant and Birdman, took the accounts of immigrants from Mexico and Central America and recounted their stories and faces digitally, even down to the clothes they wore. The only thing that isn’t real about the entire experience is the visitor’s presence.
CARNE y ARENA, 2017. A user in the experience. Photo credit: Emmanuel Lubezki
Perhaps the first to ever accomplish such a feat, Iñárritu plants attendees in the middle of the desert with several immigrants to not only show, but to completely submerge those in the journey of immigrants. Starting in what many know as “the freezer,” visitors remove their shoes and socks and sit barefoot on a cold metal bench, waiting for a flashing light to buzz them into the next room. Shoes from real immigrants collected at the border are tossed around the floor and the ideas of what happened to the previous owners rebound off every wall.
After waiting in the freezer, the next door opens into a curtained room with harsh gravel and an attendee is waiting for visitors with full VR equipment and a backpack. As the VR goggles cover eyes, the landscape of the border strains into focus and a group of immigrants come into view and settle; some struggling of dehydration, others carrying their elders. Looking closer at the faces of these real immigrants Iñárritu met, Border Patrol quickly moves in.
Luis, a lawyer, rehearses in a motion capture suit. Credit: © Legendary Photo: Chachi Ramirez
Never have I ever white knuckled a backpack more, clenched my jaw harder, or shook so much I thought they would remove my headset and remind me it wasn’t real. However, that’s the purpose entirely. What a privilege to peek under the VR headset to see my toes planted in red sand under the roof of the Stanley Marketplace in Aurora, Colorado where I stood in a paralyzing simulation. I wasn’t at the border with sweating hands as officers had guns pointed at my head.
Testing to get the right amount of sand on the shoe. The migrants talk about sand being everywhere and in everything. Credit: © Legendary Photo: Chachi Ramirez
After what felt like being submerged underwater, the goggles are removed, tearing away from the pale blue landscape as the final scene. Exiting the gravel floor, visitors come face to face with the same people facing barking dogs, impeding helicopters, and border patrol in the previous reality. Ranging from stories of the search for better lives, to a border patrol officer recounting the pain of watching people die of dehydration, saying “if you have no empathy for those who have made this journey, do not talk to me,” their stories are recounted in Spanish and English.
Carne y Arena is a revolutionary requirement for those looking to gain the slightest form of information, if not empathy for those who come to the United States looking for a better life. This experience will surface physical reactions, monumental to understanding the painful journey of those who gave everything to give even more upon arrival.
Written by Jenna McGoldrick