Making art out of the U.S.-Mexico border wall
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Today’s L.A. Times Calendar section reports on a small show of photographs by Maria Teresa Fernandez that focuses on the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border that begins a couple of hundred feet out in the Pacific and ends about 60 miles inland, near El Centro, Calif. The exhibition is in an upstairs hallway at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, writes David Pagel.
‘That’s a lot of territory to cover, and rather than documenting all parts equally or presenting a historical overview of the politically charged barrier, Fernandez zeros in on details: little incidents that might seem insignificant but that accumulate to form a knot of narratives by turns tragic, defiant and touching. Of the 84 color prints that make up the accessible exhibition, all but eight are close-ups -- tightly framed pictures that bring visitors nose to nose with the fence and arm’s length from the often poignant mementos left beside it by people whose lives it has affected.’
Maria Teresa Fernandez’s photo shows an idyllic view through a hole in the border fence at Tijuana along with drawings of skulls representing dead migrants.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City