Carol Guzy's Hands: A Photograph of Family Separation
In a photograph by American reporter Carol Guzy, winner of the World Press Photo of the Year, the hands of an Ecuadorian immigrant named Luis, arrested by ICE agents in a New York courthouse hallway, convey a sense of being torn apart more powerfully than the anguished faces of his wife Cocha and three daughters (ages 7, 13, and 15). The image captures the moment of separation as Luis is taken away, with the hands expressing a literal 'distractio cruciatusque membrorum'—a pulling apart of limbs, as described by Aulus Gellius.
Key facts
- Photograph by Carol Guzy, winner of World Press Photo of the Year
- Subject: Luis, an Ecuadorian immigrant arrested by ICE in a New York courthouse
- Luis was in court for immigration proceedings when arrested
- Wife Cocha and three daughters (7, 13, 15) witnessed the arrest
- Hands in the image convey a sense of being torn apart
- Reference to Aulus Gellius: 'distractio cruciatusque membrorum'
- ICE is the federal agency controlling borders and immigration
Entities
Artists
- Carol Guzy
Institutions
- World Press Photo
- ICE
Locations
- New York