They are but a few, those who leave: lost in the crowd that pours from the ship onto Ellis Island, the gateway to America and the 20th century.

A handful of them land on Ellis Island. And with them, the fledgling 20th century takes its first tottering steps in the pursuit of freedom and happiness.
In Andrew Jónsson's photos are Donato, and Italian actor and his daughter Emilia, ready to take wing. Esther, the Armenian bereft of her entire people. And gathered around violinist Gabor, his entire Roma clan. And then there are those who came before them, who have begun building a city that reaches upward toward the skies and the future. Young Andrew's family has left the deepest grief behind in Iceland. Each of them tries to give a shape to their exile and invent the foundations of their own lands.