Overview

Each Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holder’s USCIS A-File contains a hidden visual record—a series of ID photographs taken over many years, each in the same position and expression. Seen together, these images form an unintentional yet extraordinary portrait of endurance within the immigration system and the passage of time.

The A-File Portrait Project (title forthcoming) brings these serialized portraits to light, transforming bureaucratic documents into collective testimony about identity, resilience, and the human cost of immigration policy.

Project Goals

1. Retrieve A-Files: Partner with immigration attorneys to help TPS clients file FOIA requests for their A-File photographs.

2. Create Artworks: Develop consent-based visual installations using clients’ ID photographs, anonymized when needed.

3. Publicly Exhibit: Present the work in collaboration with advocacy organizations such as NDLON, ACLU, or National TPS Alliance.

About the Artist

Sam Comen is a Los Angeles–based documentary photographer whose work on immigration, labor, and civic belonging has been exhibited at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery and LACMA, collected by the Library of Congress, and commissioned by institutions including the California Community Foundation and the California Endowment.

Long-term projects—Lost Hills, The Newest Americans, Working America, and The Longest Shift—center the dignity and humanity of immigrant Americans.

Call to Collaboration

TPS holders and attorneys interested in participating or partnering are invited to connect directly. Let’s work together to make something visually powerful and deeply human at this pivotal moment for TPS.

Contact:
Text or call [310.809.4247]
email sam@samcomen.com
www.samcomen.com | @samcomen