Knocking on heaven’s door in progress
Colon’s photographs draw us near his subjects through each character’s gaze. Some of his close-up images show the facial creases, the sweat, and the look of despair — faces and expressions that help memorialize the journey of these African immigrants.
The landscape of the journey is also heavily featured: barbed wire and endless fencing, behind them, the Mediterranean Sea, now dubbed by many as “the great African cemetery.”
- Helena Cavendish de Moura, Special to CNN
The landscape of the journey is also heavily featured: barbed wire and endless fencing, behind them, the Mediterranean Sea, now dubbed by many as “the great African cemetery.”
- Helena Cavendish de Moura, Special to CNN
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A group of Moroccan boys walk on the breakwater of Melilla’s harbor. Melilla, Spain. -
An young boys from Morocco they expect in a rock next to the port of the Spanish enclave of Melilla. Melilla, Spain. -
A group of unaccompanied minors in the port of Melilla, Spain. -
Moroccan kids sit on the breakwater next to Melilla’s harbor. Melilla, Spain. -
A group of Moroccan boys talk through the security fence of the harbor in the Spanish enclave of Melilla. Melilla, Spain. -
A Moroccan kid inside an abandoned factory in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta boys. Ceuta, Spain. -
A Moroccan immigrants walk on a road of San Isidro, Nijar, Almería, Spain. -
A group of Algerian kids cooking inside the abandoned factory where they live in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Spain. -
Views of the fence separating Morocco from the Spanish enclave of Melilla, Spain. -
A group african migrants tried to cross barbed-wire border fences to enter the Spanish enclave of Melilla from Morocco, Melilla, Spain. -
A group of African immigrants in the port of Gran Tarajal, Fuerteventura, Spain. -
Abdourahman Giallo, a 23-year-old from Guinea, shows wounds caused by the fence’s barbed wire. -
A man injured by the fence’s barbed wire tends to his wounds in Melilla. -
A man injured by the fence’s barbed wire tends to his wounds in Melilla. -
An young boys from Morocco within the port of the Spanish enclave of Melilla. Melilla, Spain. -
A sub-Saharan immigrants in the settlement of San Isidro, Almería, Spain. -
Most of refugees do not want to ask for asylum in Spain since they are aware of the labour and economic limitations that they would have once there. A young refugee in the outskirts of CETI, Immigrants Temporary Stay Center, walks towards the taxi that will take her to catch the boat to Malaga. Melilla, Spain. -
A Moroccan child sniffing glue in Ceuta, Spain -
Salima,15 years old. She has been able to move to Melilla, while the rest of her family has stayed in Morocco and they can not go through. She lived in a deteriorated space of slightly more than 20 square meters. She is currently in Barcelona. From before 2014, the Moroccan authorities prevent refugees from accessing the Spanish border with their Syrian passports and documents in order. Melilla, Spain. -
The majority of young people try to accede Melilla skipping the Moroccan controls to avoid paying the so called economic "bite" to the frontier policemen . A Syrian mother and her son, embrace opposite the center for immigrants CETI. The youngster has just crossed Beni Enzar's border running. Melilla, Spain. -
An exhausted woman after arriving in small boats to Melilla, Spain. -
After jumping the fence, immigrants walk through the city toward a temporary residence in Melilla, Spain. -
An young boys from Morocco sit on a rock next to the port of the Spanish enclave of Melilla. Melilla, Spain. -
A sub-Saharan immigrants in the settlement of San Isidro, Almería, Spain. -
An immigrant screams on the roof of a building moments after jumping the fence separating Melilla from Morocco. Melilla, Spain. -
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An young boys from Morocco within the port of the Spanish enclave of Melilla. Melilla, Spain. -
A young Moroccan migrants smoking inside the shack, Melilla, Spain. -
A maroccan boy covers his face under a brige near the shelter for immigrants. Melilla, Spain. -
Young people wait inside the port of Melilla for the possibility of a boat that would take them further into Spain. Melilla, Spain. -
A young migrants trying to jump the wall of the port of Melilla, Spain. -
Ali, 20, Fez, inside the port of Ceuta to try entering the container or truck to take you to Europe. Ceuta, Spain. -
Mustafa, 11, Fez. Mustafa comes in a container in the port of Tangier, Morocco. -
Mohammed, 16, hides in the basement of a truck in the port of Tangier, Morocco. -
A group of young migrants are detained in a raid of the Civil Guard in the breakwater of the port of Melilla, Spain.
