Hostile Terrain 94

Hostile Terrain 94 is a dynamic global exhibition project carried out locally by students from UNLV’s Department of Anthropology. Visitors are invited to view the results of their workshop sessions by visiting the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art’s Work Shop Gallery. This worldwide exhibition series is orchestrated by the Undocumented Migration Project, a non-profit organization that focuses on the social process of immigration and raises awareness through research, education, and outreach.

The exhibition is composed of approximately 3,400 handwritten toe tags representing migrants who have died trying to cross the Sonoran Desert from the mid-1990s to 2020. These tags are geolocated on a wall map of the Arizona-Mexico border, showing the exact locations where human remains were found. Hostile Terrain 94 is taking place at over 120 institutions across six continents to raise awareness about the humanitarian crisis at America’s southern border and to engage with communities around the world in conversations about migration.

The construction of Hostile Terrain 94 is made possible by teams of volunteers from each hosting location, who participate in tag-filling workshops where they write the details of the dead and then publicly place the tags on the map in the exact location where each individual's remains were found. Some tags also contain QR codes that link to content related to migrant stories and visuals connected to immigration, including a virtual exhibition that can be accessed via cellphone.

To find out more, visit the Hostile Terrain website.

Content Notice: Hostile Terrain 94 focuses on the violent effects of government policies. It includes graphic descriptions of death and bodily decomposition.