The build-up of surveillance technologies planted at the border has increased significantly in the last decade on the US-Mexico border. Many immigrants choose routes in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona to detour border patrol hubs. Most of them suffer from dehydration, lack of food, and overheating. There are several humanitarian organizations near the border. Especially, the ‘Humane Border’ designed water stations and located them in the Sonoran Desert based on the high rate of death and bodies discovered in the desert. However, many migrants avoid getting water here because of fear of being detected. My project redesigns the water station as a counter-infrastructure of aid to border surveillance. Simple fog-collection devices, this sustainable water station offers much-needed support along migrant trajectories. This infrastructure of water stations prioritizes aid over risk and deterrence. Designed to mimic the landscape features, these mechanisms become more visible on foot through closer proximity to the station. Avoiding tire tracks, they can be placed in more remote locations that cannot typically be accessed by trucks. Ultimately providing a counter-infrastructure, the project contests border systems meant to detect and detain. Instead, the project seeks creative solutions to provide aid in a perilous desert landscape.
