The US-Mexico Border: Place, Imagination, and Possibility
Luis Jiménez, El Buen Pastor, 1999, lithograph, #20/62, Albuquerque Museum 1997 General Obligation Bond purchase, 2000.10.1 © 2021 Estate of Luis A. Jimenez, Jr. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Artists working along the US-Mexico border are engaging life in the region as subject matter. These artists use the extraordinarily hybrid culture that has developed there as a site of production that engages the welfare and well-being of migrants and citizens who live there.
The US-Mexico Border offered Albuquerque Museum curators Andrew Connors and Titus O'Brien an opportunity to bring out some of the edgier works of the permanent collection. "It fits into the trajectory of content-based art," Connors said. "I love that arts can knock you over the head with a powerful and unexpected message." Connors pointed to Chiricahua Apache artist Bob Haozous' Border Crossing to underscore how the term "border" is defined in the context of the Albuquerque Museum exhibition: "Indigenous people who traditionally lived on both sides find that the border is a complete bifurcation of their lands-an arbitrary political line that separates families from their relatives," said Connors. "These historically nomadic communities can no longer move as they once did as autonomous nations unto themselves. And Bob Haozous never shies away from making a comment. His work is always direct and highly provocative."
The Albuquerque-based art collective Post Commodity documented their internationally acclaimed installation "Repellent Fence" with video imagery and a working prototype of one of the balloon components that floated over the US-Mexico border in 2015.
The colorful, stylized, and thoughtful work of Luis Jiménez were on display, telling humane, specific stories of life and death on the border. The stunning photographs of desert landscapes by Delilah Montoya are scattered with ghostly evidence of those who made the long and sometimes deadly border crossing-an empty water bottle, a trail through a dry arroyo, a discarded child's daypack. "These are beautiful traditional landscapes, but when you look closely, they tell these horrifying and absolutely human stories," Connors said.
Featured Artists
Features artists included: Margarita Cabrera, Van Derren Coke, Gaspar Enriquez, Adrian Esparza, Carlota Espinoza, Rael San Fratello, Douglas Kent Hall, Bob Haozous, Luis Jiménez, Jami Porter Lara, Francisco LeFebre, Los Dos de Los (Yreina Cervantez and Leo Limón), Delilah Montoya, and Postcommodity (Raven Chacon, Cristóbal Martínez, Kade L. Twist).
Companion Exhibit
The exhibition at Albuquerque Museum was presented in conjunction with the companion exhibit of the same name curated by Dr. Lowery Stokes Sims & Ana Elena Mallet at 516 ARTS from Jan. 27 to April 14, 2018.