Art and Life on The Border
Tyson Z. Wilson
[University of Texas at El Paso]
 
 
Abstract
The opinions of immigration and the border wall stretch from one extreme to the other.  Interestingly enough many of the opinions that are most loudly expressed are from people who are not directly or even indirectly affected. Those most closely affected by the wall have used art to communicate thoughts and feelings that often go ignored.  This essay reviews previous research on the use of art to communicate thoughts and feelings associated with immigration and the border wall.  The research considers different art mediums in which a variety of feelings are expressed.  The review will expand the opportunities for people to engage with art to express the environment immigration and the border wall create.
 
 
[Art on the Border]

[Border Environment]

[Border Life]1

Immigration and border issues are not new, but it seems that more recently the politicization over the border wall has turned it into a prop for those that have little to nothing to do with the day-to-day interactions. Using art to communicate feelings and emotions of those most affected by the border wall and immigration as a whole allows a myriad of voices to be heard and the plight of so many to be honored if only in small increments.
 
Walls are used to protect, and walls are used to divide, in regard to the border wall, the opinion of which one it is intended to be, depends on whose perspective it comes from. In the search to understand the history of immigration, the border, and the wall used to define it, we must reflect on the history, society and culture that are reflected in it (Levi & del Rio, 2016).  The border and its subsequent wall are non-tangible for most Americans and yet the decisions that create how it is defined do not take into account those that are actually affected.  The relationship between the United States and Mexico directly affects over 12 million people who live within 100 miles of the border (Felbab-Brown, 2017).  It is important to point out that the direct impact on those 12 million people has been given very little consideration on how they are impacted.
 
There is a thought that comes to mind when discussing the border wall, that it will keep out the bad things. In this political environment, it is hard to imagine that the actual physical wall has only been in place for the last few decades. The buildup of immigration enforcement and the tactical shift toward walls and intensive frontal policing in heavily traveled corridors began in late 1993 (Heyman, 2008). Ironically, the physical wall itself does not enhance U.S. security  (Felbab-Brown, 2017), but in this political climate it is held up as if it does.  In reality, the wall serves as a visual confirmation of separation. The separation that many feel is necessary to feel secure. The wall verifies the fruition of fears that come to the surface when in reality is a misled ideal. It is the wall that conceptualizes the metaphorical walls that have been born of racism, fear, and avarice throughout the United States”  (Antoszek, 2018). That is the reality, especially in post 9-11. With the creation of Homeland Security, security of the border moved into their jurisdiction and a focus on national security in Washington, created a focus on events as they pertained to it. The terrorism connected to 9-11 was much harder to create a visual guard of our county so the border wall bore the displacement of it. A discourse of this fear was further constructed by labeling others as threats, criminals, and terrorists; the only way to attack this fear was to create a visual security (Todd, 2018), of an imposing physical wall.
 
Another component that must be considered is the financial/economic gain of private contractors from building an actual wall.  The cost has been estimated anywhere from $12 million to $130 million depending on who is doing the estimating.  The cost associated with this new endeavor during the last administration was promised to be paid by Mexico.  The reality being that it was just political fodder to excite one side of the political landscape.  The rhetoric around the wall continued to gain momentum as promises of protecting us from undocumented immigrant Mexicans and others that are “pouring” over the border, including “murderers, criminals, rapists and terrorists,” causing mayhem here (Garcia, 2018).  The use of fear as a tool to instill the need for a wall is in many ways simply a ploy for the economic gain of an elite few.  The wall itself does not provide the level of safety and security it promises.  Undocumented workers and drugs will still find their way across any barrier that is built (Felbab-Brown, 2017).
 
There is often so much focus on the direct impact to humans that the border wall creates.  However, that is a short-sighted view.  The impact on many natural elements such as plants and animals come at a pretty significant cost. The health of a natural biome/geographic area is imperative to the life and increase and/or maintenance of a species (Lasky, Jett & Kiett, 2011).
 
The border as a defining entity is nothing new.  It has long played a significant role in the US-Mexico border discourse for years going as far as impacting spatial-social relations between the two (Antoszek, 2018).  For many, the wall created a separation of families that has had a multigenerational impact.  In many ways an entire culture has grown up around the wall and has created an identity where the wall and the border are synonymous (Cortina, 2020).  The borderlands are a completely different dynamic from that of other places in the U.S. and in many ways the special uniqueness should be celebrated.  The border is a dynamic social institution that creates an interdependent, mutually beneficial system of personal, cultural, and economic interactions between and among neighboring places (Cortina, 2020).  It is within this special context that an entire vulture of art expression is shared on all things border related from the beauty of the land to the harsh injustices of American immigration policies that are used to tear apart families and degrade people of color.
 
[Vocal Art- The Border Wall and Beyond].
 
Art speaks if we listen. Art is a language of its own and is particularly significant for refugee children and youth whose languages and cultures may be distinct from those around them (Chávez Leyva, 2021). In many ways the immigrants of the borderlands, especially those trapped in detainment centers, are among the most voiceless. Art allows those who may not have a voice be heard and listened too (Chávez Leyva, 2021). The border is another conflict that has been absent from discussions outside of putting up a wall to block them out and once again it is a discussion that those most affected are not included in. Textualizing the barriers at the border in art is not as new as the wall but set back as far as the US-Mexican War. Following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 276 engraved obelisks/monuments were erected along the treaties agreed upon the border.  Though art is universal, its application to a particular conflict can reveal major biases in interpretations and depictions (Ganivet & Valet, 2019). Art in its simplest form is expressed in complex ways through all venues of discourse. The S.T.E.A.M (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) movement has solidified that. Drawing inspiration from how artists and researchers have used art to raise public awareness and teach people about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, the continues to express its frustrations at the injustices and ironies alive today (Macias et.al., 2020).
 
Art can best express the soul of a culture (Ionesco, 2015). The reality of our country is that we are a nation of immigrants. Art in all its expressions tells the stories of the hopes and dreams as well as fears and despair.  Immigrants are the very ideal of our nation and yet, the border and those that live and travel in and around it are often the recipients of untruths and vilification. Art can help change the many stereotypes and overcome negative myths around migration (Ionesco, 2015). In its beauty of expression, art can and is used as a tool to change the belief in unfounded rumors and untruths.  Art can directly empower migrants and diasporas, allowing them to express their experiences (Ionesco, 2015), in ways that create commonalities between those both within and out of the borderlands.
 
As discussed in the early part of this paper, walls are given enormous power.  The power to keep out or safe from something or someone viewed as an infringement of another’s rights. They serve as preventive defenses that attempt to stop infringements on one’s territory before it occurs. (Levi & del Rio, 2016). Through resilience and determination as well as a vision for beauty, artists create an environment of peace, joy, responsibility, and justice from the mere art they create.
 
Art not only brings awareness to the world around us, it brings healing to us as we navigate the world.  In a children’s detention center close to the US-Mexico border during the summer of 2018, a group of them fleeing from Central and South America were being detained.  In the stark environment where human interaction was minimal and the environment of metal beds and concrete corridors, these children were still able to share expressions of themselves through art. In spite of the circumstances, they exhibited life and pride through representations of landmarks and culture from their home countries.  “There’s a sense of joy and beauty in the art that reflects everything in the environment they were being denied,” (Brown, 2019).  The cotton balls and scraps of paper they used to create soccer fields and other cultural objects were not provided as art supplies, the resilience of children to express through art is amazing.  While no one is claiming that art saves lives it does point to the healing properties and confidence art can give to those who have felt powerless and alone (Brown, 2019). The art of these “caged children” (Brown, 2019), have been displayed all across the United States as a reminder that children, regardless of their color or origin are just like every other child.
 
Murals on walls across the borderlands often have the same goal of bringing inspiration and empowerment to those that are often meant to be marginalized. Understanding that opportunities are intended for all, along with the effort to ensure one feels the value that they as an individual represent can be expedited through the use of art. In the Segundo Barrio in El Paso, Tx, three local artists with varied aesthetics came together to create a mural, Quinto Sol- The Rebirth, to inspire children from the neighborhood with memorable artwork (Rivas, 2021).  Through the use of color and cultural symbols, they intend for children to see the pride in culture and a vision of strength that will carry them upwards while feeling the honor that such a rich heritage creates.
 
Another art expression of frustration and awareness occurred July 4, 2020. An international coalition of eighty artists used skywriting to express some of the profound messages in the simplest of terms (Kladzyk, 2020). Addressing the ironic celebration of freedom on July 4 as immigrants, many looking for the same freedoms, are locked in detention centers- “#NO WALL #NO MURO” and “ESTOY AQUI: SOBREVIVIRE,” (I AM HERE: I WILL SURVIVE) to highlight the inhumane conditions in which immigrants face in detention centers (Kladzyk, 2020).
For US and Mexican audiences alike, the border fence has great symbolic currency. On art about civil liberties, for example, with an image of barbed wire, while he used chain-link fence
Artists have explored the metaphoric possibilities of chain link as both barrier and permeable interface, as abstract grid, and part of everyday landscape (Fox,
 
Border wall art is also used as a tool to not only bring awareness to the issue of immigration, but it can also be used as a tool to undermine the intent of the wall’s functions (Casey & Watkins, 2014). The marginalized viewpoint of those most affected by the wall is most clearly expressed through the variety of murals and exhibits on and about the wall and the people who are forced to interact with it. The art on the wall at the border is like a healing salve placed on an open wound (Casey & Watkins, 2014). A lot of the art created regarding the wall is a reminder of those that have perished in their attempts to transcend what the wall was trying to prevent.
 
In building the wall, the U.S. government violently thrust a foreign object into and onto the earth, intruded into aquifers, and incised fragile and unique terrains. As Part 1 revealed, the wall divides people from their backyards and animals from their habitats and migratory ranges. It slashes through the hearts of nature preserves, a university, and the streets of people’s towns and cities. It stands as a powerful contradiction to the welcome we strive for in our homes and communities. It is ugly, and indeed, it repels and repulses. Conversely, the art on the wall invites one in and brings one up close, creating an intimacy with the wall. The very wall that has caused these deaths is used to name and remember them, as though to bring to the wall itself a sense of conscience and consciousness (Casey & Watkins, 2014). Ironically, much of the art on the wall itself is only on the Mexican side. With little exception, art on the U.S. side of the wall is often quickly covered or erased.
In order to begin to heal and repair the physical, psychological and financial damage that the wall has created, a compassionate understanding and account from both sides affected by the division the wall creates must be heard.
 
[Closing Thoughts]
Why do the border policies between the U.S. and Mexico cause so much suffering, injustice, and even death (Todd, 2018)? What has allowed us to perpetuate our fears from one avenue into the unfair practices and treatment of those seeking a better life with no intention to cause harm or taking from a system without equally giving back?  Why has a physical wall become so important to assuring our national security when research and data confirm it does not?  We live in homes with walls to ensure our privacy and establish property so we can feel secure, but we don’t have the right to stop others from moving into our neighborhoods and buying their own homes.  Yet, that is exactly what the border wall does.  Rather than a line of separation, the border should be conceived of as a membrane, connecting the tissues of communities on both sides, enabling mutually beneficial trade, manufacturing, ecosystem improvements, and security, while enhancing inter–cultural exchanges (Felbab-Brown, 2018).
 
References
Antoszek, E. (2018). The U.S.-Mexico Border as a Palimpsest in Ana Teresa Fernández’s Art. Polish Journal for American Studies : Yearbook of the Polish Association for American Studies, 12, 197-210.
Casey, E. S., & Watkins, M. (2014). Up Against the Wall : Re-Imagining the U. S. -Mexico Border. University of Texas Press.
Chávez Leyva, Y. (2021). “Behind each beautiful painting is a child longing to be free”: Deep visual listening and children’s art during times of crisis. Global Studies of Childhood, 11(2), 123-141. 10.1177/20436106211023509
Cortina, J. (2020). From a Distance: Geographic Proximity, Partisanship, and Public Attitudes toward the U.S.–Mexico Border Wall. Political Research Quarterly, 73(3), 740-754. 10.1177/1065912919854135
Fox, C. F. (1995). The Fence and the River: Representations of the US-Mexico Border in Art and Video. Discourse (Berkeley, Calif.), 18(1), 54-83.
Ganivet, E., & Vallet, É. (2019). Border Wall Aesthetics Artworks in Border Spaces (1st ed.). transcript Verlag. 10.14361/9783839447772
Garcia, A. C. (2019). Bordering work in contemporary political discourse: The case of the US/Mexico border wall proposal. Discourse & Society, 30(6), 573-599. 10.1177/0957926519870048
Heyman, Josiah McC. — (Josiah McConnell). (2008). Constructing a Virtual Wall: Race and Citizenship in U.S.-Mexico Border Policing.Journal of the Southwest; Journal of the Southwest, 50(3), 305-333. 10.1353/jsw.2008.0010
Lasky, J. R., Jetz, W., & Keitt, T. H. (2011). Conservation biogeography of the US-Mexico border: a transcontinental risk assessment of barriers to animal dispersal. Diversity & Distributions, 17(4), 673-687. 10.1111/j.1472-4642.2011.00765.x
Levi, D., & del Rio, V. (2016). Walls as a Reflection of Society and Culture. Focus (San Luis Obispo, Calif.), 12(1)10.15368/focus.2016v12n1.3
Seesaws Help Balance Ups and Downs at the Border. (2019). News for You (Syracuse, N.Y.), 67(32)
Todd, M. F. (2018). The Economized Immigrant: Biopolitics At the U.S.-Mexico Border and Beyond
Vanda Felbab-Brown. (2017). The Wall: The Real Costs of a Barrier between the United States and Mexico. Brookings Institution Press. 10.7864/j.ctt1vjqq1f
 
Lots of great ideas here. You need to work on providing a more linear organization for the benefit of the reader (who isn’t inside your mind).  But, great start.
Also, I think you could strengthen the support for your final paper by drawing from more references to art as a political tool in general.
The use of figures is an excellent addition; strengthens the paper.
Figures
 
Figure 1. [This mural was painted in December 2020 as a Christmas present to the Segundo Barrio by artists Francisco Delgado, Francisco Camacho, and Bobby Lerma. Photo by Victoria Rivas, Borderzine.com]
Figure 2
[July 4, 2020. An international coalition of eighty artists used skywriting to express some of the profound messages in the simplest of terms (Kladzyk, 2020)]
 
Figure 3
[Border Dynamics, the art installation by Alberto Morackis and Guadalupe Serrano, leads viewers to meditate on both the action and the inattention that keep a wall in place (Casey & Watkins, 2014)]