The Process | The Border ProjectAs a resident of the newly renovated Curley School Artists Community in Ajo, AZ, I quickly became aware of my town’s diverse population and its geographic significance. In an attempt to explore my area's unique situation and to express visually how borders personally impact students, I designed The Border Project for the Borders, Fences, and Gates exhibit, a sister-show to the Smithsonian traveling exhibit, Between Fences. I worked with photographer Jewel Fraser Clearwater, also a Curley School artist, to capture the students’ portraits and to begin developing the project into an installation piece. We started in the town of Ajo, a small, isolated rural town over two hours from Tucson or Phoenix that is engulfed in border activity. It is less than an hour from the Mexican border and even closer to the borders surrounding the Tohono O'odham (TO) Nation. The TO Nation straddles the U.S. / Mexico border with two thirds in Arizona and one third in Mexico. With two impacted cultures in play, the project was not complete without students from Mexico, and so we headed to Sonoyta, Sonora, Mexico. We spent many weeks in the art classrooms of these schools generating discussion, drawings, writing, and sculpture on the students’ perceptions of the word ‘border’ and its meaning. We also photographed each student, allowing their image along with their artwork to stand as a symbol of how they are affected by what is happening on our borders. The Border Project serves as a vehicle of necessary change in the larger community because it is a powerful mechanism for empowering youth, raising community awareness, and creating understanding between three diverse cultures, Mexican, Tohono O'odham , and Anglo.
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