Series description
Some places are not quite places. At the border between Ciudad Juárez, México, and El Paso, USA, belonging appears suspended. It is a space where identity becomes porous and unfinished; neither arrival nor departure. To cross from one place to the other is to negotiate language, customs and gestures; to leave fragments behind while acquiring new ones. If borders test brutality, they are also sites of encounter. The photographer explains that in these liminal spaces, the self stretches, dissolves and rearranges; the threshold holds tension and possibility, and the uncertainty of being neither here nor there.
Hand and Green Curtain
A hand emerges from behind a green curtain. In this liminal space, belonging remains unsettled: it is a moment of hesitation, of quiet tension.
© Persia Campbell, Mexico, Shortlist, Professional Competition, Creative, 2026 Sony World Photography Awards
Self-Portrait
A self-portrait seen from behind, withholding the face. Identity remains partial.
© Persia Campbell, Mexico, Shortlist, Professional Competition, Creative, 2026 Sony World Photography Awards
Pink Phone on Suitcase with Club Sandwich
A pink rotary phone rests on top of a suitcase, beside a club sandwich. Domesticity appears portable.
Photographed in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, on the border with the United States.
© Persia Campbell, Mexico, Shortlist, Professional Competition, Creative, 2026 Sony World Photography Awards
Piñata Party
A storefront displaying piñatas stands beneath the desert sun as a visual intersection of two cultures. Spanish and English coexist as everyday language, rather than translation, with identity shaped through overlap rather than separation. In this frame, hybrid border culture is built from fragments of both sides.
© Persia Campbell, Mexico, Shortlist, Professional Competition, Creative, 2026 Sony World Photography Awards
Motel Del Norte
Photographed in El Paso, USA, this sign operates as a marker of the threshold; a literal and symbolic point of entry. The name evokes El Paso del Norte, a region historically shared by both sides of the border. The red, weathered facade simultaneously suggests decay and endurance, while the black crow introduces an ambiguous omen. It is an entrance that holds both possibility and unease, framing the border not as arrival, but as negotiation.
© Persia Campbell, Mexico, Shortlist, Professional Competition, Creative, 2026 Sony World Photography Awards
Hand, Necklace
A portable archive of memory and identity. These items suggest personal history rather than spectacle. The casino chips and dice evoke the idea of a bet; a future that is uncertain.
© Persia Campbell, Mexico, Shortlist, Professional Competition, Creative, 2026 Sony World Photography Awards
Nachos with US and Mexican Money
A plate of nachos sits alongside US dollars and Mexican pesos. The dish, tortilla and melted cheese reflect a border-born adaptation: ingredients accessible to migrants that carry their Mexican origins into the USA.
© Persia Campbell, Mexico, Shortlist, Professional Competition, Creative, 2026 Sony World Photography Awards