30 Years of Teenage Diaries

Thirty years after documenting his initial arrival in the United States, Juan reflects on his journey from an undocumented teenager living in a trailer near the Rio Grande to a settled plumbing business owner in Denver. His early audio diaries reveal the harsh realities of his youth, marked by extreme poverty, the struggle for daily sustenance, and the haunting trauma of discovering a deceased migrant in the river. These recordings contrast sharply with his current life, highlighting the generational divide between his own survival-focused upbringing and his American-born son’s perspective. This retrospective project examines the evolution of the immigrant experience, tracing the path from the desperate hope of a teenager seeking opportunity to the stability of a man who has built a life across two cultures.