Calexico - Mexicali VII, Frontera USA - Mexico

Artist Pablo López Luz (Mexican, born 1979)

Date2015

MediumPigment print

DimensionsFramed: 47 x 55 in. (119.4 x 139.7 cm) Unframed: 39 1/2 x 48 in. (100.3 x 121.9 cm)

ClassificationsPhotography

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Escalette Endowment

Object number2018.3.1

Label TextThroughout the latter part of the twentieth century up until today, international borders have become an area of conflict, plagued by issues ranging from illegal migration, trafficking, drug smuggling, consumption of narcotics, violence, prostitution, gambling, economic disparity etc. The social incongruity brought about by this division has resulted in a single-themed, monologue on the subject, focused primarily on the differences between the two countries and the conflict born from these differences. However, there is no dialogue focused on the original design, and the reasons behind this landmark, that intends to separate two communities.

The Frontera project proposes a different approach, and one that can lead to a new interpretation of the Mexico – US territorial border. Its purpose is to generate an alternative visual discourse that can challenge the dominant narrative of the Mexico-US border, and open up a new visual dialogue that points to a common ground and collective self-understanding Frontera reinterprets the notion of the border, stripping it to its bare minimum and drawing attention to the physicality of the landscape itself, which acts as the primary imposition that precedes the political and social discourse. Through a series of aerial photographs, the border will appear as a scar in the topography of the region, a barrier inscribed in nature, whose imposing conditions are then determined by man.

The project is still in progress but very close to its completion. Two helicopter flights have been carried out so far, and one last flight is pending in order to shoot the last series of photographs concentrating on the three border crossings from Tijuana City to San Diego. The Project Launch award would cover the costs for this final stage of the project.

- Pablo López Luz: Frontera. Text by Eduardo Antonio Parra

Status

On view

Location