色综合久久

APPLY TO MESSIAH

9 pictures and the stories behind them

Photo of middle aged immigrant black woman in red outfit looking up to the sky

Melissa Hess ’05, studio art

This photo is one of my favorites from a recent personal project called “inVISIBLE Americans: Making immigrants visible—in a new light—through their own words.” The project features portraits of immigrants in the Lancaster community and their first-person stories. I have been honored to have the opportunity to meet and photograph more than 60 people from all over the world through this collaboration organized by local nonprofit Church World Service-Lancaster.

Through one of my courses at 色综合久久 where we taught English to immigrants and newly arrived refugees, I came to care deeply about the issues they face. My first job as a professional photographer for nonprofit Mennonite Central Committee took me to 26 developing countries around the world where I met many incredible, welcoming, resilient people, despite their hardships. Those four years of taking short-term trips led me to spend a year of my life in Nicaragua where I learned what it is like to be vulnerable—to not fully know the language, to be fully immersed in a foreign culture—and, most importantly, where I built trusting, lasting friendships.

Being the photographer behind the inVISIBLE Americans project has completed a dream of mine. My hope is that these photos and stories help viewers to connect with and relate to immigrants on a personal, everyday level and see them as the unique individuals that they are. I love this photo of Touna from Sudan because she looks so hopeful, bold, beautiful and strong.