US | Mexico Border

In 2002 I began traveling the entire length of the US-Mexico border on both sides, from Tijuana/San Diego on the Pacific Ocean to Matamoros/Brownsville on the Gulf of Mexico, a journey of 4,000 miles there and back. What started out as curiosity about the twin cities straddling the borderline was rapidly overtaken by events. I had the good (and bad) fortune to begin my field work before the US began fortifying its southern boundary, and so became an unintentional witness to the border’s closure. My exploration was completed in 2005, but since then I have continued my research into the border fortifications, adding thousands more miles to my travel log. As a consequence, I have come to understand the border as a distinct place, apart from the host countries, perhaps almost a ‘third nation,’ worthy of fuller attention. So I embarked on a trio of related projects: what impact were border walls having on the borderland communities; activism against the border wall; and how border art and culture reflected resistance to the events in the borderlands. Read more.