Chaffey "Hostile Terrain 94" Exhibition Opens Jan. 12

The toe tag Brianna McKindley filled out for a 15-year-old boy from Mexico still haunts her. The child faced sizzling heat, hunger and dehydration when he attempted to cross the Sonoran Desert from Mexico into the United States in the late 1990s.

In the end, it was hypothermia that took his life.

“I’m 18, I have a cozy bed at home and a mother that feeds me, so it was sad to me that he died wanting a better life for him and his family,” McKindley said.

McKindley, a fire technology major, was one of more than 350 participants who filled out 4,400 toe tags in October and November in the first phase of Chaffey College’s “Hostile Terrain 94” exhibition. Participants examined data of thousands of migrants who died while crossing from Mexico to the U.S. since 1994, and used that data to fill out tags for the fallen migrants. The tags will be presented on a map as part of the exhibition from Jan. 12 to March 14 in Chaffey’s Wignall Museum.

Hostile Terrain 94, created by the Undocumented Migration Project (UMP), seeks to raise awareness of the human cost of U.S. border policies. In 1994, the U.S. Border Patrol implemented the immigration enforcement strategy “Prevention Through Deterrence,” shifting illegal border crossings away from urban centers. The strategy has increased the number of migrant deaths due to people crossing in more treacherous areas.

In addition to the map, the exhibition will also include artifacts, as well as audio and video related to the project, said Wignall Director Rebecca Trawick. She said that many participants – which also included students at San Bernardino Valley College and Cal State San Bernardino – considered the toe tag workshops to be heartbreaking but also important.

“I found the workshops emotionally difficult, but they also provided a platform to share personal stories and experiences, to discuss the realities of migration, and to bear witness to the loss of human life,” Trawick said.

McKindley, a member of Chaffey’s Puente Project, thought the project was particularly relevant given the ongoing tensions with U.S. immigration policy.

The event will include an “Exhibition Walk-Through and Reception” from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 10. with UCLA anthropologist Jason De León and co-curator Michael Wells. De León will be available for a signing of his books “The Land of Open Graves” and “Soldiers and Kings” from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Visitors are welcome to view the exhibition at any time during the reception and do not need to be present the entire time.

The Wignall Museum is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m.

Information: https://www.chaffey.edu/wignall.