Note: This event will be immediately followed by the opening reception for the State of Exception exhibition.

A round-table panel discussion about the Undocumented Migration Project and the State of Exception exhibition, with presentations from all three visitors: Stephen Brighton (anthropology, University of Maryland), Kathryn Ferguson (co-author of Crossing with the Virgin: Stories from the Migrant Trail), Robin Rieneke (PhD student, anthropology, University of Arizona).

This exhibition presents traces of the human experience--backpacks, water bottles, border patrol restrains, and other objects left behind in the desert by undocumented migrants on their journey into the U.S. This in combination with video shot by Richard Barnes on location along the U.S./Mexico border comprises State of Exception, the first major curation of the work of U-M anthropologist Jason De León’s Undocumented Migration project. This collaboration between artist/photographer Richard Barnes, De León, and curator Amanda Krugliak considers the complexity and ambiguity of the found objects and what they may or may not reveal in terms of transition, human experience, culture, violence, and accountability.