*There will also be an event on Tuesday, August 4, from 10-2pm

I made a decision a long time ago to not have children.  As an immigrant from a war torn country, having children was a luxury that completely contradicted civilization’s inability to care for those that were already here. 
When I finally made it to Los Angeles I saw that city of almost 4 million people also faced hardships that I was familiar with.  But the one that is most devastating is a forced separation from a parent.   
My project centers around this recent phenomena of immigrant children being jailed and forced to exist in the immigration bureaucracy without knowing if they will ever see there parents again. 
I want to make a statement about this tragedy by placing one or more of my plastic photography baby dolls in a small hand made cage and travel with them around Los Angeles in a variety of social settings to examine and photograph peoples reactions and ideas about this direction our administration is taking. 
The conversations will remain anonymous and I will communicate the emotion and texture of these encounters with still photography only. 
My goal is to capture the raw emotion behind these children’s struggle. 

photo credit and title: Labkhand Olfatmanesh, Baby-maybe and train

Website: www.labbiemanesh.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/labbiemanesh