Join Tom Kiefer and curator Tori Pelz for a private, behind-the-scenes VIP gallery tour and conversation about the exhibition. Admission includes one drink ticket plus taco small plates.

The SCA’s El Sueño Americano exhibition features more than 100 photographs of items – some “everyday”, some deeply personal – along with actual items that were confiscated from women, men and children caught illegally crossing the Arizona border.

Kiefer, who worked as a janitor at a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol facility in Arizona for 12 years, discovered the items in garbage bags. Taken from people and deemed “non-essential items” as part of the enforcement process, the items were bound for the dump. Kiefer was both intrigued and saddened by what he found in the garbage bags, and began making images of the items in an effort to answer his questions.

El Sueño Americano shows us pictures of soap, wallets, and canteens and also rosaries, Bibles, and family photos. Taken together the items weave tales of the mundane, of survival, and of the elusive American Dream.