00:00:00.367 --> 00:00:05.367
♪uplifting music♪

00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:54.200
♪lively strings♪

00:01:39.233 --> 00:01:42.567
-[Rafael] Someone said that art,
it's the only profession that

00:01:42.567 --> 00:01:46.200
you could, you know, play
like a kid when you're,

00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:49.033
like, a grown 52-year-old.

00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:54.867
-[Kade] It's looking
pretty good out here.

00:01:54.867 --> 00:01:56.200
-[Cristóbal] It's looking good.

00:01:56.600 --> 00:01:58.900
This could be our,
uh, opportunity.

00:01:58.900 --> 00:02:00.700
-[Kade] Yeah, I
think this is it.

00:02:20.533 --> 00:02:22.700
-Um, we're starting
the lights today.

00:02:22.700 --> 00:02:23.400
-[man over radio] Okay, cool.

00:02:23.400 --> 00:02:24.367
We're ready.

00:02:24.367 --> 00:02:25.700
-[Rafael] Okay, copy.

00:02:38.367 --> 00:02:39.867
-[Richard] Just follow me and
I'll let you know if I see a

00:02:39.867 --> 00:02:40.600
snake.

00:02:40.600 --> 00:02:41.600
-[man] Okay.

00:02:44.267 --> 00:02:46.767
-[Richard] On first look, a lot
of my work could look like it's

00:02:46.767 --> 00:02:48.700
documentary or
social documentary.

00:02:48.700 --> 00:02:52.200
But I go to great lengths to
make them really transcend just

00:02:52.200 --> 00:02:54.600
being a mere fact.

00:02:56.200 --> 00:02:57.200
[shutter click]

00:02:58.200 --> 00:02:59.867
I want to make them so
beautiful that you have

00:02:59.867 --> 00:03:01.700
to look and then
think about them.

00:03:03.600 --> 00:03:06.433
Just to really slow down and
consider and just think...

00:03:07.367 --> 00:03:08.867
"This doesn't look right.

00:03:09.867 --> 00:03:11.567
Is-- is it right?"

00:03:30.433 --> 00:03:35.433
♪Spanish-language
music playing from radio♪

00:04:07.100 --> 00:04:11.700
-[Tanya] I grew up in Tijuana
on the border with San Diego.

00:04:13.700 --> 00:04:15.933
I would cross the border
everyday to go to school in the

00:04:15.933 --> 00:04:16.933
US.

00:04:23.200 --> 00:04:28.200
As a child, I was constantly
being marked by my border

00:04:28.400 --> 00:04:29.400
identity.

00:04:30.200 --> 00:04:33.200
Not belonging to
anybody, not belonging to,

00:04:33.200 --> 00:04:35.033
like, the US or Mexico.

00:05:01.700 --> 00:05:05.867
-[Tanya] A lot of my work is
about visibility and is about

00:05:05.867 --> 00:05:09.567
more representation and having
more people see themselves or

00:05:09.567 --> 00:05:12.267
their struggles mirrored.

00:05:17.033 --> 00:05:19.933
I think the
Borderlands mean, like,

00:05:19.933 --> 00:05:21.867
really opposing
things to people.

00:05:21.867 --> 00:05:25.933
For a lot of us that have grown
up there and kind of seen the

00:05:25.933 --> 00:05:29.367
effects of living next to the
border on the Mexican side,

00:05:29.367 --> 00:05:32.733
I kind of experienced it a
lot as a place of death.

00:05:34.700 --> 00:05:37.033
Like, a desecration of land.

00:05:37.567 --> 00:05:39.867
As a place that
divides families.

00:05:40.233 --> 00:05:44.733
As a place that, sadly, a lot
of people perish at 'cause of

00:05:44.733 --> 00:05:47.533
their thought of the Borderlands
as being a place of hope.

00:05:48.033 --> 00:05:49.733
Like, the Promised Land.

00:05:50.033 --> 00:05:54.267
This place where you make a
migration north and you end up

00:05:54.267 --> 00:05:56.700
in this place that is more
beautiful than anything you've

00:05:56.700 --> 00:05:58.033
ever imagined.

00:05:58.700 --> 00:06:02.367
But for the most part, people
kind of get smacked with just

00:06:02.367 --> 00:06:04.733
the reality of the border wall.

00:06:05.867 --> 00:06:09.200
♪melancholic music♪

00:06:09.200 --> 00:06:11.267
And I think that
constant influx of

00:06:11.267 --> 00:06:15.200
new groups of people coming into
the border makes the Borderlands

00:06:15.200 --> 00:06:20.200
a really experimental place
for how societies can recreate

00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:22.867
themselves.

00:06:42.867 --> 00:06:46.200
[electrical hum]

00:06:59.967 --> 00:07:02.067
-[Richard] I think
photography is a magical,

00:07:02.067 --> 00:07:03.367
powerful medium.

00:07:04.233 --> 00:07:07.400
We all take pictures of our
loved ones and vacations and

00:07:07.400 --> 00:07:08.667
things like that.

00:07:08.667 --> 00:07:12.200
But then, when you use it in a
way that transcends that level,

00:07:12.200 --> 00:07:14.600
it does bear witness
like no other medium.

00:07:17.400 --> 00:07:19.367
Over the years, I've
photographed many different

00:07:19.367 --> 00:07:22.733
kinds of cultural activities
where nature and culture

00:07:22.733 --> 00:07:23.733
collide.

00:07:24.100 --> 00:07:28.067
♪delicate piano♪

00:07:28.767 --> 00:07:31.033
And it wasn't
until I worked in the

00:07:31.033 --> 00:07:34.067
open American desert that I
felt like I found my niche.

00:07:35.867 --> 00:07:39.700
In a funny way, our culture
stands out in very clear relief

00:07:39.700 --> 00:07:40.700
in the desert.

00:07:42.567 --> 00:07:45.933
I discovered things like
military bombing ranges...

00:07:46.267 --> 00:07:47.867
the nuclear test site...

00:07:48.367 --> 00:07:49.900
space shuttle landings...

00:07:50.567 --> 00:07:51.767
man-made fires...

00:07:52.267 --> 00:07:53.567
man-made floods.

00:07:55.867 --> 00:07:58.600
I started working on these
projects of just photographing

00:07:58.600 --> 00:08:02.267
the landscapes with traces
of human civilization in it.

00:08:04.067 --> 00:08:06.733
I was constantly reconciling
this idea of the beauty of the

00:08:06.733 --> 00:08:11.100
place and ugliness exists
side-by-side in the American

00:08:11.100 --> 00:08:12.100
desert West.

00:08:14.867 --> 00:08:17.867
To me, that was a part of
America that anything that

00:08:17.867 --> 00:08:21.067
showed up there told you
about larger American issues,

00:08:21.067 --> 00:08:23.700
and global ones,
for that matter.

00:08:24.533 --> 00:08:26.100
[blast]

00:08:36.200 --> 00:08:38.367
Essentially, what I'd do
over the years is I'd just

00:08:38.367 --> 00:08:42.900
travel the American desert and
wander around and look for new

00:08:42.900 --> 00:08:44.400
projects, new ideas.

00:08:44.867 --> 00:08:48.233
And I just saw this photograph
of this blue barrel and the blue

00:08:48.233 --> 00:08:49.867
flag in the middle of nowhere.

00:08:49.867 --> 00:08:50.567
I just photographed it.

00:08:50.567 --> 00:08:52.033
I didn't even know what it was.

00:08:52.400 --> 00:08:55.267
It wasn't until many years
later I learned that different

00:08:55.267 --> 00:08:58.733
humanitarian groups would put
water out for migrants coming

00:08:58.733 --> 00:08:59.967
across the border.

00:09:00.333 --> 00:09:02.267
I decided to do a
whole series of them.

00:09:02.267 --> 00:09:04.433
And I would find
these in every state.

00:09:04.433 --> 00:09:06.200
You know, California,
Arizona, New Mexico,

00:09:06.200 --> 00:09:07.433
and Texas.

00:09:07.433 --> 00:09:11.533
So this photograph was the first
one that gave me the idea that

00:09:11.533 --> 00:09:14.567
kind of became
the Border Cantos.

00:09:15.567 --> 00:09:16.867
♪melancholic music♪

00:09:16.867 --> 00:09:20.600
So I spent the next five years
traveling along the US-Mexico

00:09:20.600 --> 00:09:23.233
border from the coast
where the wall goes into the

00:09:23.233 --> 00:09:27.200
ocean all the way to
the Texas Gulf of Mexico.

00:09:28.533 --> 00:09:32.200
One of the things I've learned
from this series is that until

00:09:32.200 --> 00:09:35.367
you go see this place yourself,
you have no idea what's really

00:09:35.367 --> 00:09:36.733
going on there.

00:09:44.367 --> 00:09:45.867
-[Kade] When I look
at the Borderlands,

00:09:45.867 --> 00:09:50.867
I see a-- a clear
demarkation of colonization.

00:09:51.100 --> 00:09:55.200
That's the underlining
meaning of that border.

00:09:56.100 --> 00:09:57.333
♪wistful music♪

00:09:57.333 --> 00:10:02.200
Postcommodity was founded as
an interdisciplinary indigenous

00:10:02.433 --> 00:10:03.700
artist collective.

00:10:04.933 --> 00:10:08.600
We've got to start including
an indigenous worldview in

00:10:08.600 --> 00:10:10.933
relationship to the border.

00:10:16.033 --> 00:10:18.533
-[Cristóbal] The idea of the
balloons is to intersect the

00:10:18.533 --> 00:10:23.533
US-Mexico border that signified
a suturing or connecting of--

00:10:24.767 --> 00:10:26.867
of the Americas together.

00:10:28.367 --> 00:10:31.700
-[Kade] In indigenous cultures,
this eye means an open eye,

00:10:31.700 --> 00:10:35.033
an eye that's aware, an
eye that's knowledgeable,

00:10:35.033 --> 00:10:37.767
but also an eye
that is accountable.

00:10:38.767 --> 00:10:41.533
-And these are places where
indigenous children from all

00:10:41.533 --> 00:10:45.900
throughout Latin America have
journeyed to on their own in

00:10:45.900 --> 00:10:49.200
search of some kind of
safety, only to find themselves

00:10:49.200 --> 00:10:50.433
imprisoned...

00:10:51.233 --> 00:10:54.433
in some of the most
unsafe spaces on Earth.

00:10:56.033 --> 00:10:57.067
-Fully-dehumanized.

00:10:57.067 --> 00:10:58.367
-Fully-dehumanized.

00:10:58.367 --> 00:11:00.433
Just-- just like our ancestors.

00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:08.600
This work is testimony that
indigenous people presupposed

00:11:08.933 --> 00:11:11.567
this hard-edged border.

00:11:13.067 --> 00:11:15.233
Suturing is remembering.

00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:16.567
-[Kade] And healing.

00:11:16.567 --> 00:11:18.033
-[Cristóbal]
You're reasserting...

00:11:19.367 --> 00:11:21.767
one's place on the land.

00:11:22.867 --> 00:11:26.367
The idea that you can
take a site of contest,

00:11:26.367 --> 00:11:31.367
conflict, and controversy and
reimagine it into a place of

00:11:32.233 --> 00:11:37.233
curiosity, where people can
sense the world and share those

00:11:37.933 --> 00:11:41.567
experiences with one another,

00:11:41.567 --> 00:11:46.567
that's what overrides that
baser hunger for justice.

00:11:52.367 --> 00:11:57.367
[paper bags crinkling]

00:12:24.867 --> 00:12:29.700
♪ethereal music♪

00:12:29.700 --> 00:12:32.567
-[Rafael] Many of my works
involve this process of taking,

00:12:32.567 --> 00:12:35.033
like, a portrait
of a participant,

00:12:35.033 --> 00:12:38.033
for example, like, of their face
or their fingerprint or their

00:12:38.033 --> 00:12:38.900
heartbeat...

00:12:38.900 --> 00:12:40.600
[heartbeat]

00:12:40.600 --> 00:12:43.367
and then making
it into a landscape.

00:12:44.767 --> 00:12:47.367
Because it-- it's
beautiful to see your heartbeat,

00:12:47.367 --> 00:12:50.900
but it's more beautiful to see
it in relationship to all these

00:12:50.900 --> 00:12:51.900
others.

00:12:52.267 --> 00:12:55.867
That's the kind of complexity
that I'm interested in evoking.

00:13:53.700 --> 00:13:58.700
♪ominous music♪

00:13:59.700 --> 00:14:02.400
-[Rafael] We're living in a
society where these technologies

00:14:02.400 --> 00:14:04.033
are inescapable.

00:14:04.900 --> 00:14:08.700
In the context of the border,
having surveillance systems or

00:14:08.700 --> 00:14:12.700
the searchlights of the Border
Patrol choppers looking for

00:14:12.700 --> 00:14:13.700
migrants.

00:14:16.067 --> 00:14:19.767
A lot of the work that I do
with technology is a perversion,

00:14:19.767 --> 00:14:23.900
a perversion of their original
intent to create critical or

00:14:23.900 --> 00:14:25.700
poetic responses.

00:14:29.367 --> 00:14:31.933
I'm a Mexican
immigrant in Canada,

00:14:31.933 --> 00:14:35.733
but when I would hear when
Trump Administration talk about

00:14:35.733 --> 00:14:40.200
Mexicans being rapists, using
Mexicans as this escape valve

00:14:40.200 --> 00:14:42.433
for all this
hatred, you feel that,

00:14:42.433 --> 00:14:44.033
you feel that personally.

00:14:49.700 --> 00:14:53.200
Now, more than ever, when
this nationalism's come in,

00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:55.200
is when art is required.

00:14:55.200 --> 00:14:57.400
It is required to
establish dialogue,

00:14:57.400 --> 00:15:00.700
to ask questions, to
bring people together,

00:15:00.700 --> 00:15:01.867
you know?

00:15:01.867 --> 00:15:04.033
And it sound a little bit naive,
but in the history of art,

00:15:04.033 --> 00:15:05.233
it's always been the case.

00:15:06.600 --> 00:15:10.733
And I felt, "Okay, this is time
to come up with a work that can

00:15:10.733 --> 00:15:12.533
make a contribution in the area.

00:15:12.533 --> 00:15:13.700
-[Rafael] Oh, that's cool.

00:15:14.533 --> 00:15:15.767
-[Rafael] The work
that I'm doing now,

00:15:15.767 --> 00:15:20.233
"Border Tuner," which present
this continuous symbolic bridge

00:15:20.233 --> 00:15:24.867
across El Paso into
Juarez using searchlights,

00:15:24.867 --> 00:15:26.900
not to look for
individuals, but rather,

00:15:26.900 --> 00:15:29.933
to look for relationships
between individuals.

00:15:29.933 --> 00:15:34.933
♪bittersweet music♪

00:15:51.867 --> 00:15:55.400
♪ambient music♪

00:15:55.400 --> 00:15:58.700
-[Tanya] When I started
thinking about a new project,

00:15:58.700 --> 00:16:00.533
I just kept
thinking about, like,

00:16:00.533 --> 00:16:05.033
the heaviness of bearing witness
to these really horrible things

00:16:05.033 --> 00:16:06.200
on the border.

00:16:07.367 --> 00:16:12.067
I wanted to make a piece to
physically expel these things

00:16:12.067 --> 00:16:15.367
that I had unearthed
and this scar that I,

00:16:15.367 --> 00:16:18.033
you know, keep digging
open and digging open.

00:16:19.233 --> 00:16:21.533
The glass pieces make up a suit.

00:16:22.700 --> 00:16:27.367
The headpiece is inspired
by Mesoamerican imagery.

00:16:30.700 --> 00:16:33.233
The huarache is
designed to fail,

00:16:33.233 --> 00:16:36.600
so it's designed so
that as I walk in it,

00:16:36.600 --> 00:16:39.867
um, it starts to-- to break.

00:16:44.567 --> 00:16:49.567
When I was little, I never
knew that art was a career path.

00:16:50.400 --> 00:16:52.200
I never knew that that was
something that you could really

00:16:52.200 --> 00:16:53.533
do. [laughs]

00:16:54.233 --> 00:16:57.367
It wasn't until I was
in community college and I met

00:16:57.367 --> 00:17:00.367
my mentor, Michael Schnorr, who
was one of the original founders

00:17:00.367 --> 00:17:02.200
of the Border Art Workshop.

00:17:02.200 --> 00:17:05.533
Michael had been working to
make a stance against Operation

00:17:05.533 --> 00:17:06.733
Gatekeeper.

00:17:07.267 --> 00:17:10.033
-We are a nation of immigrants
and we should all be proud of

00:17:10.033 --> 00:17:10.867
it.

00:17:10.867 --> 00:17:13.400
But we're also a nation of laws.

00:17:14.600 --> 00:17:17.533
-[Tanya] Operation Gatekeeper
was the strategic reinforcement

00:17:17.533 --> 00:17:19.367
of the US-Mexico border.

00:17:19.867 --> 00:17:23.900
-We're beginning to see a
movement of the traffic away

00:17:23.900 --> 00:17:27.600
from the urban area
itself out to the perimeter.

00:17:27.600 --> 00:17:29.267
That is our objective here.

00:17:29.933 --> 00:17:33.067
-[Tanya] And it forced migrants
to cross through the desert,

00:17:33.067 --> 00:17:35.567
rather than jumping across
and running through residential

00:17:35.567 --> 00:17:36.600
areas.

00:17:38.733 --> 00:17:41.867
The first year that they
enacted Operation Gatekeeper,

00:17:41.867 --> 00:17:44.933
more people died crossing the
border than the entire 75 years

00:17:44.933 --> 00:17:46.867
of Border Patrol history.

00:17:48.033 --> 00:17:53.033
♪mournful music♪

00:17:54.867 --> 00:17:57.267
Michael was showing
us how people were

00:17:57.267 --> 00:18:02.267
using art to make political
statements to change society,

00:18:02.267 --> 00:18:06.900
but then also talking about the
physical space of the border as,

00:18:06.900 --> 00:18:09.233
like, a theater for discussion.

00:18:13.033 --> 00:18:17.533
I started thinking more
about taking back the fence and

00:18:17.533 --> 00:18:22.200
changing it from being a
space of pain and trauma into a

00:18:22.200 --> 00:18:24.400
generative place
that we could reclaim.

00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:30.200
♪soft acoustic guitar♪

00:18:34.233 --> 00:18:37.233
After I left San
Diego/Tijuana for a

00:18:37.233 --> 00:18:40.933
long time, I thought about
how to help shape the narrative

00:18:40.933 --> 00:18:44.400
about the border that was
currently happening during the

00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:46.033
2016 election.

00:18:47.700 --> 00:18:52.533
So I founded AMBOS, which stands
for Art Made Between Opposite

00:18:52.533 --> 00:18:53.567
Sides.

00:18:53.567 --> 00:18:55.033
[clang]

00:18:58.100 --> 00:18:59.600
[clang]

00:19:03.400 --> 00:19:04.700
[clang]

00:19:05.933 --> 00:19:07.767
-[Tanya] I wanted to work
collaboratively with other

00:19:07.767 --> 00:19:11.867
people using the border as
a starting point for that

00:19:11.867 --> 00:19:13.100
conversation.

00:19:13.533 --> 00:19:16.267
And we did a project
called "The Border Quipu."

00:19:38.267 --> 00:19:42.900
-The Andean Pre-Colombian system
of the quipu were calendars,

00:19:42.900 --> 00:19:45.033
counting system, language.

00:19:45.033 --> 00:19:47.533
But I wanted to use it to
visualize our connection to each

00:19:47.533 --> 00:19:51.700
other, report our, like,
daily migrations to the north,

00:19:51.700 --> 00:19:56.067
and also physically represent
the bodies of all the people

00:19:56.067 --> 00:19:58.267
that participated
in the project.

00:20:00.700 --> 00:20:03.100
"What are your thoughts
when you cross this border?"

00:20:07.733 --> 00:20:10.367
"Sometimes, I think about
how much time I spend here,

00:20:10.367 --> 00:20:12.400
or if my son will
have to do this too."

00:20:21.367 --> 00:20:25.533
We ended up having close to
10,000 people participate in

00:20:25.533 --> 00:20:26.733
"The Border Quipu."

00:20:28.700 --> 00:20:33.233
That taught me so much about the
vastness of our community on the

00:20:33.233 --> 00:20:38.233
border, but also the many ways
that governments -- not just in

00:20:38.867 --> 00:20:43.233
US and Mexico but, you know, all
over -- have failed to protect

00:20:43.233 --> 00:20:44.367
people.

00:20:45.533 --> 00:20:50.533
♪bittersweet music♪

00:21:02.567 --> 00:21:06.367
-[Richard] When you look at the
border wall in Tijuana on the

00:21:06.367 --> 00:21:08.767
Mexico side,
people are partying,

00:21:08.767 --> 00:21:11.867
they're-- they're swimming,
they're building sand castles,

00:21:11.867 --> 00:21:14.767
they're having barbecues,
they're just very festive.

00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:18.700
And on the US side, nobody
uses this beautiful beach.

00:21:18.700 --> 00:21:21.867
So there was a lot of irony
in-- in this photograph for me.

00:21:22.533 --> 00:21:25.367
It looks like a
prison cell, but,

00:21:25.367 --> 00:21:28.733
um, we're on the wrong side of
the wall or the prison cell.

00:21:37.367 --> 00:21:40.433
When I first started
making serious photographs,

00:21:40.433 --> 00:21:43.600
I wasn't thinking about social
documentary or political work.

00:21:43.600 --> 00:21:46.533
But because I was exposed
to everything around me,

00:21:46.533 --> 00:21:49.733
in the late '60s, when the
whole world was just going wild

00:21:49.733 --> 00:21:54.533
with politics, I saw this kind
of idea of taking these tools,

00:21:54.533 --> 00:21:57.700
this language of
fine art photography,

00:21:57.700 --> 00:22:00.233
and applying it to the street.

00:22:01.033 --> 00:22:03.867
I lived in Berkeley right
off of Telegraph Avenue.

00:22:03.867 --> 00:22:07.200
One night, I got my camera
and my tripod that I used for

00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:10.733
landscape work and then I just
started photographing people.

00:22:11.367 --> 00:22:15.367
♪crunchy guitar riff♪

00:22:16.867 --> 00:22:19.733
And I began the "Telegraph
3 AM" project that way.

00:22:24.533 --> 00:22:29.200
But once the book came out, I
started realizing that I thought

00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:31.867
I was gonna change the world
with this work by showing people

00:22:31.867 --> 00:22:33.867
things that they
hadn't seen before,

00:22:33.867 --> 00:22:36.100
but in fact, it
just helped my career.

00:22:36.567 --> 00:22:38.700
That just felt--
that felt wrong.

00:22:39.533 --> 00:22:44.533
♪tense delicate music♪

00:22:45.767 --> 00:22:48.033
After "Telegraph
3 AM," when I was

00:22:48.033 --> 00:22:50.367
kind of disillusioned
with my own work,

00:22:50.367 --> 00:22:52.767
I said, "I'm not
gonna photograph people."

00:22:52.767 --> 00:22:56.367
And I was looking kind of
in search of the miraculous.

00:22:59.700 --> 00:23:02.533
Rather than thinking
about the political world,

00:23:02.533 --> 00:23:05.867
I wanted to go and remove myself
from it all and just go on

00:23:05.867 --> 00:23:07.767
this-- this journey.

00:23:13.267 --> 00:23:17.067
I just got this idea one night:
a cactus with these mystical

00:23:17.067 --> 00:23:20.033
forms in the desert and that I
was gonna go and photograph it.

00:23:20.033 --> 00:23:23.700
And I started photographing
at night and experimenting.

00:23:28.933 --> 00:23:30.867
-Not yet, but soon.

00:23:33.867 --> 00:23:35.233
-[Richard] I really
liked working at night.

00:23:35.233 --> 00:23:38.033
It gave me a fresh language that
very few people had ever used in

00:23:38.033 --> 00:23:39.367
photography.

00:23:48.767 --> 00:23:50.067
That was that moment.

00:23:50.367 --> 00:23:51.233
That was it.

00:23:51.233 --> 00:23:53.200
And I'm getting
chills, actually.

00:23:55.367 --> 00:24:00.367
For me, that became a place
where my mind just-- just took

00:24:00.767 --> 00:24:01.767
off.

00:24:03.233 --> 00:24:05.700
I had fallen in
love with the desert.

00:24:05.700 --> 00:24:07.267
But I was in my mid-20s.

00:24:07.267 --> 00:24:10.067
I didn't know, at that point,
that I would ever be thinking

00:24:10.067 --> 00:24:13.367
about the political
consequences of the desert.

00:24:14.533 --> 00:24:17.700
And then, some years later, I'm
back in that same territory but

00:24:17.700 --> 00:24:21.433
looking at border issues, issues
that were facing and threatening

00:24:21.433 --> 00:24:22.767
the very same landscape.

00:24:25.033 --> 00:24:28.200
The desert was a vast stage
where everything that happened

00:24:28.200 --> 00:24:31.267
there kind of projects
onto the rest of America.

00:24:32.033 --> 00:24:37.033
♪wistful music♪

00:24:59.067 --> 00:25:04.067
♪ambient music♪

00:25:06.233 --> 00:25:08.700
-[Cristóbal] I grew up in
North Central New Mexico.

00:25:08.700 --> 00:25:12.433
More specifically, the
upper Rio Grande Valley,

00:25:12.433 --> 00:25:14.200
which is a high desert.

00:25:14.767 --> 00:25:19.767
My primary discourse
is in the land itself.

00:25:20.433 --> 00:25:25.433
And so, being away from the
Borderlands is being diasporic.

00:25:27.700 --> 00:25:31.433
And it's hard to be
diasporic in the world.

00:25:42.367 --> 00:25:44.200
-Wow, it's pretty sick to watch.

00:25:44.200 --> 00:25:45.233
-[laughs] Yeah.

00:25:45.233 --> 00:25:47.033
-You know, it's
like a little dance.

00:25:47.533 --> 00:25:52.200
♪delicate music♪

00:25:52.700 --> 00:25:56.533
-We're in the middle of one
of the largest migrations of

00:25:56.533 --> 00:26:00.567
peoples from the
south to the north.

00:26:00.567 --> 00:26:03.933
Here, in Chicago, there are
currently over 750,000 people in

00:26:03.933 --> 00:26:07.200
the county who are
of Mexican descent,

00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:10.867
and that number is
growing, will continue to grow.

00:26:11.233 --> 00:26:15.200
So the expectation is that
the landscape is gonna be

00:26:15.200 --> 00:26:17.367
transformed
culturally, politically,

00:26:17.367 --> 00:26:18.700
socially.

00:26:19.267 --> 00:26:22.400
We wanted to build a
piece to mark that time

00:26:22.400 --> 00:26:24.767
that this
transformation is happening,

00:26:24.767 --> 00:26:27.033
this migration is happening.

00:26:28.533 --> 00:26:30.267
-[Lekha] Any second now.

00:26:30.267 --> 00:26:33.700
I feel like someone's
gonna wave the checkered flag.

00:26:34.900 --> 00:26:38.767
-[Lekha] 10 years ago, I met
these guys at the Arizona State

00:26:38.767 --> 00:26:40.767
University Art Museum.

00:26:40.767 --> 00:26:45.767
They had a slab of the concrete
floor cut and mounted on a

00:26:46.867 --> 00:26:48.067
pedestal.

00:26:48.067 --> 00:26:49.733
[electrical hum]

00:26:49.733 --> 00:26:52.233
And then they suspended
a microphone over the

00:26:52.233 --> 00:26:57.233
earth beneath and had a speaker
with a native Pee Posh ceremony

00:26:58.867 --> 00:27:00.933
being played at a
very low volume,

00:27:00.933 --> 00:27:04.600
so as you walked in, you weren't
sort of struck by the sound

00:27:04.600 --> 00:27:06.700
until you got a
little big closer.

00:27:06.700 --> 00:27:11.700
[electrical humming,
soft chanting]

00:27:13.367 --> 00:27:16.200
The project was
very related to the land,

00:27:16.200 --> 00:27:19.267
literally, beneath
the museum and that was

00:27:19.267 --> 00:27:21.700
burial, um, grounds.

00:27:23.700 --> 00:27:27.033
They seem to always be able to
find something very interesting

00:27:27.033 --> 00:27:29.733
about the site where
they were working.

00:27:30.867 --> 00:27:34.067
Consider what's been
going on and the border,

00:27:34.067 --> 00:27:37.867
I was really interested to see
what they might think about in

00:27:37.867 --> 00:27:42.100
the context of Chicago, now all
of us being sort of away from

00:27:42.100 --> 00:27:43.367
the border.

00:27:44.100 --> 00:27:49.100
♪hopeful music♪

00:27:51.900 --> 00:27:53.567
-Throughout all
of Latin America,

00:27:53.567 --> 00:27:58.600
you often times will find these
columns that are projecting off

00:27:58.600 --> 00:28:02.200
the rooftops of homes.

00:28:02.200 --> 00:28:06.567
And a lot of times, people
who are not from Latin America

00:28:06.567 --> 00:28:10.200
misinterpret the
meaning of those columns.

00:28:10.433 --> 00:28:14.067
They think that the--
the homes aren't finished.

00:28:37.933 --> 00:28:42.433
-[Cristóbal] What the columns
often signify is a pragmatic

00:28:42.433 --> 00:28:45.033
approach to growth.

00:28:45.033 --> 00:28:48.600
As the family
expands, the home expands.

00:28:48.600 --> 00:28:52.033
And so the house
is always growing,

00:28:52.033 --> 00:28:53.867
always emergent.

00:28:55.200 --> 00:28:57.700
-This piece in the
skyline that surrounds it,

00:28:57.700 --> 00:29:01.733
it's a way to acknowledge a
very strong Mexican cultural

00:29:01.733 --> 00:29:04.900
tradition being
established here in Chicago.

00:29:07.400 --> 00:29:11.367
-[Cristóbal] That's why art
is so useful: because it's

00:29:11.367 --> 00:29:12.900
non-didactic.

00:29:13.267 --> 00:29:16.433
It's-- it's more of an
opportunity to dance...

00:29:16.433 --> 00:29:18.367
as opposed to...

00:29:19.367 --> 00:29:21.900
uh, having to engage in...

00:29:22.400 --> 00:29:24.933
some form of-- of war.

00:29:25.433 --> 00:29:30.433
[gunshots and
shouting over speaker]

00:29:39.567 --> 00:29:44.267
-"Voz Alta" was a work in Mexico
City to commemorate the 40th

00:29:44.267 --> 00:29:48.067
anniversary of the massacre of
students in Tlatelolco Plaza.

00:29:48.067 --> 00:29:52.100
We set up a megaphone that
converted people's voices into

00:29:52.100 --> 00:29:56.367
light, so these very powerful
searchlights would come flashing

00:29:56.367 --> 00:29:58.267
to the Minstry of
Foreign Affairs.

00:30:50.700 --> 00:30:53.033
[typing]

00:30:55.900 --> 00:30:57.900
-[Rafael] Now,
speaking without leaning.

00:30:58.100 --> 00:31:00.533
-Hi, this is a test.

00:31:00.533 --> 00:31:01.867
-Okay, now lean.

00:31:02.267 --> 00:31:04.533
-And now it sounds better.

00:31:05.200 --> 00:31:08.567
-Creating a platform
for people to self-represent,

00:31:08.567 --> 00:31:11.033
for their
voice to be visible,

00:31:11.033 --> 00:31:14.033
is a fundamental part of
what I'm doing politically.

00:31:14.033 --> 00:31:15.067
-[man] That's what
we had before--

00:31:15.067 --> 00:31:15.733
-[Rafael] Oh, I see.

00:31:15.733 --> 00:31:17.567
-[man] So 0.001.

00:31:18.200 --> 00:31:19.367
-Whoa.

00:31:19.700 --> 00:31:21.600
-[man] So go over to .1.

00:31:21.600 --> 00:31:24.567
-If I'm crossing
somebody else's lights,

00:31:24.567 --> 00:31:27.367
automatically, the computer
opens a bidirectional channel of

00:31:27.367 --> 00:31:28.433
communication.

00:31:28.433 --> 00:31:31.200
So now, you can hear
me and I can hear you.

00:31:32.100 --> 00:31:35.367
-[Rafael] Whereas "Vox Alta"
was more about speaking to the

00:31:35.367 --> 00:31:39.900
heavens, "Border Tuner" is about
speaking to another person,

00:31:39.900 --> 00:31:43.533
establishing these new
connections to create community.

00:31:44.933 --> 00:31:49.933
♪bluesy Spanish-language music♪

00:32:07.367 --> 00:32:09.867
-I like to take people up to
this lookout because it's one of

00:32:09.867 --> 00:32:11.733
the places where you can really
get a sense of how the two

00:32:11.733 --> 00:32:13.067
cities fit together.

00:32:13.700 --> 00:32:15.367
So should we get out
and have a look around?

00:32:15.367 --> 00:32:16.367
-[Rafael] Yeah, let's do it.

00:32:17.233 --> 00:32:19.900
-[Kerry] Juarez and El Paso
together make up the largest

00:32:19.900 --> 00:32:23.033
bi-national metropolis in
the western hemisphere.

00:32:23.533 --> 00:32:25.600
So that's the border
that you see there.

00:32:25.600 --> 00:32:27.200
It's this big,
wide stretch, like,

00:32:27.200 --> 00:32:28.367
running through.

00:32:28.367 --> 00:32:30.033
And from here, you
can see our site also.

00:32:30.033 --> 00:32:31.700
So you can see
Bowie High School,

00:32:31.700 --> 00:32:34.267
and just across the trees
are-- are the Chamizal,

00:32:34.267 --> 00:32:37.033
which was a bi-national
park at one point.

00:32:37.367 --> 00:32:40.200
It's a particularly
integrated place.

00:32:40.200 --> 00:32:43.367
More than 65 percent of the
people in both cities have

00:32:43.367 --> 00:32:45.100
immediate family
in the other city,

00:32:45.100 --> 00:32:45.700
so--

00:32:45.700 --> 00:32:46.233
-[Rafael] 65 percent?

00:32:46.233 --> 00:32:47.267
-[Kerry] 65 percent.

00:32:48.733 --> 00:32:52.033
-[Rafael] I love when
you have a pre-established

00:32:52.033 --> 00:32:54.600
notion of what
you're gonna see and it's wrong.

00:32:56.367 --> 00:33:00.200
I learned that you can't
make an artwork about the wall.

00:33:00.400 --> 00:33:02.033
People there are
sick of the wall.

00:33:02.033 --> 00:33:05.700
They want to talk about the
ways in which the two societies

00:33:05.700 --> 00:33:06.867
interpenetrate.

00:33:08.533 --> 00:33:11.400
To create an artwork for
listening is really what the

00:33:11.400 --> 00:33:12.700
project became.

00:33:13.600 --> 00:33:18.600
♪soft suspenseful music♪

00:33:29.433 --> 00:33:32.367
-Jeffrey, you can run the
streaming interface in here,

00:33:32.367 --> 00:33:33.067
is that true?

00:33:33.067 --> 00:33:34.233
-I can run it over here, yes.

00:33:34.533 --> 00:33:35.900
-[Rafael] Oh, this
is really good, then.

00:33:35.900 --> 00:33:36.900
Livestream.

00:33:37.200 --> 00:33:40.233
-So I can see here all of the
different attributes of that

00:33:40.233 --> 00:33:43.700
station, whether I need to
ignite the light or-- or things

00:33:43.700 --> 00:33:44.700
like that.

00:33:44.700 --> 00:33:45.700
-Okay.

00:33:54.033 --> 00:33:55.033
-[Rafael] Hey, Jeffrey?

00:33:55.733 --> 00:33:58.767
For fun, let's
start the lights early.

00:33:59.367 --> 00:34:01.267
-Going into performance mode.

00:34:01.700 --> 00:34:03.400
-Here we go, lights up.

00:34:04.367 --> 00:34:05.433
Boom.

00:34:08.567 --> 00:34:09.700
Whoa.

00:34:10.367 --> 00:34:11.367
Whoa.

00:34:14.367 --> 00:34:17.033
♪ambient music♪

00:34:17.033 --> 00:34:18.367
-[Edgar over loudspeaker]
Thanks for joining us.

00:34:18.367 --> 00:34:20.400
[foreign language].

00:34:21.067 --> 00:34:23.533
Starting now, the
lights are interactive,

00:34:23.533 --> 00:34:26.033
so anyone who
wants to try them out,

00:34:26.033 --> 00:34:27.033
come on in.

00:34:35.900 --> 00:34:38.367
-You wanna try
moving the lights?

00:34:38.700 --> 00:34:40.200
All the way over there.

00:34:47.200 --> 00:34:49.767
There, you can stop
right there and say hello.

00:34:49.767 --> 00:34:51.033
-[Salvador over
loudspeaker] Hello?

00:34:52.567 --> 00:34:53.700
Hola?

00:34:57.433 --> 00:34:58.767
-Salvador.

00:34:59.267 --> 00:35:00.367
-[man over
loudspeaker] Salvador?

00:35:00.367 --> 00:35:01.367
-[Salvador] Sí.

00:35:09.033 --> 00:35:12.367
-Rafael has mentioned that
he was not here to create

00:35:12.367 --> 00:35:15.067
connections, he was here to
highlight the connections that

00:35:15.067 --> 00:35:17.100
were already in place.

00:35:17.100 --> 00:35:18.700
But I don't think
that's the case.

00:35:19.600 --> 00:35:20.733
I really feel like
there were, like,

00:35:20.733 --> 00:35:24.367
some interesting connections
created in between both

00:35:24.367 --> 00:35:25.367
communities.

00:36:21.733 --> 00:36:24.200
-[Rafael] There's a lot of
people who live in El Paso who

00:36:24.200 --> 00:36:27.400
have never been to
Mexico, or vice versa,

00:36:27.400 --> 00:36:31.533
because there is this kind of
dehumanization of what is going

00:36:31.533 --> 00:36:32.567
on there.

00:36:32.867 --> 00:36:36.067
But when you speak one-to-one
with someone, it completely

00:36:36.067 --> 00:36:38.033
changes your perception.

00:36:44.033 --> 00:36:47.433
-If we don't see people
apprehended and brought back to

00:36:47.433 --> 00:36:51.100
their countries, if we see these
massive caravans coming up,

00:36:51.100 --> 00:36:52.367
we're gonna
tariff the cars again.

00:36:52.367 --> 00:36:54.533
If that doesn't work,
we're gonna close the border.

00:36:55.033 --> 00:36:56.100
So I think that'll work.

00:36:56.100 --> 00:36:57.700
That's massive
numbers of dollars,

00:36:57.700 --> 00:36:58.700
so...

00:37:12.233 --> 00:37:14.700
And so they can learn how
to-- how to take care of their

00:37:14.700 --> 00:37:17.533
friends, just like you
learned [inaudible].

00:37:17.533 --> 00:37:18.533
-Mm-hm.

00:37:19.533 --> 00:37:23.700
-After having a child, I now
think about the world you leave

00:37:23.700 --> 00:37:24.900
to somebody else.

00:37:24.900 --> 00:37:26.367
-[foreign language].

00:37:26.367 --> 00:37:27.600
You can keep it in there.

00:37:27.600 --> 00:37:31.100
-[Tanya] I have a responsibility
now beyond a responsibility to

00:37:31.100 --> 00:37:32.200
myself.

00:37:33.267 --> 00:37:37.600
Knowing that has really
affected the work that I do,

00:37:37.600 --> 00:37:40.400
thinking about how to be more
empathetic and thinking about

00:37:40.400 --> 00:37:42.700
what it means to be
part of a community.

00:37:48.533 --> 00:37:50.567
-The glass performance piece--

00:37:50.567 --> 00:37:51.700
-Mm-hm.

00:37:51.700 --> 00:37:53.933
-Well, the date is already
set for when I'm doing the

00:37:53.933 --> 00:37:55.400
performance.

00:37:55.400 --> 00:37:59.900
We need to talk about all of the
physical training required to

00:37:59.900 --> 00:38:02.067
carry--
[laughing] all of the--

00:38:02.067 --> 00:38:02.900
-[woman] Thrilled.

00:38:02.900 --> 00:38:04.767
-Yeah, to carry
all of the glass.

00:38:04.767 --> 00:38:09.767
♪wistful music♪

00:38:21.567 --> 00:38:26.567
-After "The Border Quipu," I
kept thinking of carrying this,

00:38:27.533 --> 00:38:31.200
like, open scar [sighs]
from the border with me,

00:38:31.200 --> 00:38:35.033
like, everywhere I go and having
my whole life shaped by it.

00:38:35.033 --> 00:38:37.700
-Do we have the third one, or
should we just try it with two?

00:38:38.067 --> 00:38:39.733
-[Tanya] All of this,
like, heavy memory.

00:38:40.200 --> 00:38:43.200
What do you do with it
and how do you process it?

00:38:43.200 --> 00:38:45.900
How does the
body, like, you know,

00:38:45.900 --> 00:38:47.067
deal with it?

00:38:49.533 --> 00:38:50.700
-Okay.

00:38:51.233 --> 00:38:52.400
-'Cause I gotta fix the belt.

00:38:52.400 --> 00:38:54.933
-[Tanya] The piece is called
"Metabolizing the Border."

00:38:55.433 --> 00:38:59.567
I wanted to make a piece that
would force my body to deal with

00:38:59.567 --> 00:39:02.200
the border through
all of the five sense.

00:39:02.867 --> 00:39:07.067
So you're forced to see
through the fence only.

00:39:08.367 --> 00:39:11.533
You're forced to breathe
through the fence only.

00:39:12.400 --> 00:39:16.567
You're forced to hear through
particles of the border fence.

00:39:16.867 --> 00:39:17.367
-Okay.

00:39:17.367 --> 00:39:17.733
-[woman] You good?

00:39:17.733 --> 00:39:18.733
-Yeah.

00:39:19.533 --> 00:39:21.600
-You can't escape the border.

00:39:25.767 --> 00:39:29.867
I'm going to be walking back and
forth along the border on the US

00:39:29.867 --> 00:39:33.100
side wearing all of
these glass pieces.

00:39:35.867 --> 00:39:39.533
In a lot of the work that I
do, I engage communities.

00:39:39.767 --> 00:39:44.767
But this piece, it's a personal
piece that I want to do for

00:39:45.567 --> 00:39:46.567
myself.

00:39:48.200 --> 00:39:49.200
-Okay.

00:39:51.033 --> 00:39:54.233
-[Tanya] I'm excited to do the
performance and to see how I

00:39:54.233 --> 00:39:55.567
feel after.

00:39:56.067 --> 00:39:59.367
I don't know if, in the
end, it'll be something that's

00:39:59.367 --> 00:40:04.367
cathartic to put out there what
I have been carrying invisibly.

00:40:06.100 --> 00:40:07.200
-[Tanya] I wanna
see the pictures.

00:40:07.200 --> 00:40:08.100
-Yeah.

00:40:08.100 --> 00:40:09.367
They're awesome.

00:40:11.233 --> 00:40:14.200
-[Tanya] It looks
like a really weird-ass

00:40:14.200 --> 00:40:15.900
alien baby señora.

00:40:16.200 --> 00:40:18.600
-[laughs] Yeah.

00:40:22.100 --> 00:40:23.100
-Okay.

00:40:26.933 --> 00:40:31.733
I'm like...
[inhales deeply] anxious.

00:40:33.567 --> 00:40:38.100
I'm nervous about the, like,
physical demand on my body,

00:40:38.100 --> 00:40:40.733
and I'm nervous about,
like, the emotional demand.

00:40:40.733 --> 00:40:41.533
-Mm-hm.

00:40:41.533 --> 00:40:42.767
-Um...

00:40:42.767 --> 00:40:43.867
but yeah.

00:41:03.567 --> 00:41:04.700
-If you look out in
the distance there,

00:41:04.700 --> 00:41:06.233
you can see the end of the wall.

00:41:06.233 --> 00:41:08.200
So we're-- it's gonna take a
little while to drive there,

00:41:08.200 --> 00:41:10.033
but we're on our way.

00:41:10.867 --> 00:41:12.233
The wall's end.

00:41:12.233 --> 00:41:14.067
It just stops abruptly.

00:41:17.200 --> 00:41:20.067
And there's not a Border
Patrol agent in sight.

00:41:20.067 --> 00:41:25.067
♪suspenseful strings♪

00:41:44.200 --> 00:41:48.100
There's only 680 miles of actual
wall along the 2,000-mile

00:41:48.100 --> 00:41:52.533
border, and they generally
put them in areas that are

00:41:52.533 --> 00:41:54.200
densely-populated.

00:41:54.200 --> 00:41:58.033
And the idea is, is that if they
push people out to the ends,

00:41:58.033 --> 00:42:00.267
it would be so dangerous for
them to cross into wilderness

00:42:00.267 --> 00:42:03.400
area that they would die, so
they would-- it would be so

00:42:03.400 --> 00:42:05.033
dangerous they--
people wouldn't go,

00:42:05.033 --> 00:42:07.067
it would discourage people
from actually going across the

00:42:07.067 --> 00:42:08.100
border.

00:42:08.100 --> 00:42:09.333
That didn't work.

00:42:09.333 --> 00:42:11.200
In fact, many people-- more
people have died since they

00:42:11.200 --> 00:42:13.767
built these walls
with these ends.

00:42:13.767 --> 00:42:18.767
♪melancholic piano♪

00:42:44.033 --> 00:42:45.933
It's a beautiful landscape here.

00:42:49.367 --> 00:42:53.100
It's just kind of remarkable how
lovely and lyrical the landscape

00:42:53.100 --> 00:42:54.567
is and...

00:42:55.033 --> 00:42:58.933
um, it's-- it's weird to
have the-- the wall just kind

00:42:58.933 --> 00:43:01.033
of....breaking it up.

00:43:01.433 --> 00:43:03.033
It seems sinister.

00:43:06.067 --> 00:43:11.067
♪threatening drone♪

00:43:38.067 --> 00:43:39.767
When I first met Guillermo,

00:43:39.767 --> 00:43:43.233
he was performing an instrument
that he had created that he had

00:43:43.233 --> 00:43:45.700
made out of objects
found on the border.

00:43:46.867 --> 00:43:50.433
I had just photographed the
effigies along the border and a

00:43:50.433 --> 00:43:51.567
light went off.

00:43:51.567 --> 00:43:53.533
I went, "Oh my God, this
could be a great collaboration.

00:43:54.567 --> 00:43:55.567
[thud]

00:43:58.400 --> 00:43:59.400
[pluck]

00:44:01.700 --> 00:44:03.400
[scrape]

00:44:07.067 --> 00:44:09.233
-[Guillermo] It's interesting,
because we have the-- the same

00:44:09.233 --> 00:44:14.033
aesthetic and the same way to
approach the border issues.

00:44:14.767 --> 00:44:16.600
If you see art of
the border, sometimes,

00:44:16.600 --> 00:44:21.367
it's about taking a
certain political view about it.

00:44:22.100 --> 00:44:25.733
But, uh, our work is
more about opening spaces,

00:44:25.733 --> 00:44:27.100
it's about absence.

00:44:32.767 --> 00:44:33.933
People is not there, you know?

00:44:33.933 --> 00:44:36.533
It's just the
evidence of what happens,

00:44:36.533 --> 00:44:38.200
what keeps happening.

00:44:38.200 --> 00:44:43.200
♪wistful strings♪

00:44:44.533 --> 00:44:46.067
-[Richard] You take a minute
and stop and think about this

00:44:46.067 --> 00:44:47.533
crucifix that you find.

00:44:47.867 --> 00:44:48.900
Why is that there?

00:44:49.533 --> 00:44:51.067
What were they running from?

00:44:53.267 --> 00:44:55.600
Each one evokes its own story.

00:44:56.867 --> 00:44:58.867
I wanted them to be
like scenes of the crime.

00:44:58.867 --> 00:45:01.533
So I would photograph them
often just with my cell phone.

00:45:02.867 --> 00:45:04.733
Straight-on, just like evidence.

00:45:06.433 --> 00:45:09.533
Then Guillermo turned
them into instruments.

00:45:15.400 --> 00:45:19.400
-[Guillermo] The ways in which
music heals in Mesoamerican

00:45:19.400 --> 00:45:24.400
cultures, you find an object
that has a connection to a

00:45:25.567 --> 00:45:28.267
person and you make an
instrument out of that and you

00:45:28.267 --> 00:45:29.433
heal with that.

00:45:32.867 --> 00:45:35.867
Art is many things, but one
of the things that art does is

00:45:35.867 --> 00:45:40.200
it opens imagination and it
opens-- it opens new ways of

00:45:40.200 --> 00:45:42.700
seeing things or hearing things.

00:45:45.400 --> 00:45:47.433
It's very important
to see in new ways,

00:45:47.433 --> 00:45:50.267
because if not, we're stuck
with the same all the time.

00:45:55.200 --> 00:45:57.567
-[Richard] The wall has
become this dark symbol,

00:45:57.567 --> 00:46:00.200
like a barricade
that keeps people out.

00:46:02.200 --> 00:46:05.767
Where the Statue of Liberty is
a monument to positive American

00:46:05.767 --> 00:46:09.867
values, the border wall
is an anti-monument;

00:46:09.867 --> 00:46:11.700
its exact opposite.

00:46:13.867 --> 00:46:16.367
All my photographs
are about America,

00:46:16.367 --> 00:46:19.700
and that's both the
challenges that it faces,

00:46:19.700 --> 00:46:21.200
but also, its beauties:

00:46:21.933 --> 00:46:24.900
its exquisite land,
its exquisite country.

00:46:24.900 --> 00:46:28.867
And the future of the country
depends a lot on how we think

00:46:28.867 --> 00:46:30.500
about places like this.

00:46:35.600 --> 00:46:38.200
-[Edgar] The border is a place
where we go through a lot of

00:46:38.200 --> 00:46:41.200
difficult stuff, but we
learn how to deal with it.

00:46:42.367 --> 00:46:46.433
I've learned to compare
people here like desert plants.

00:46:46.933 --> 00:46:48.733
They live in the
harshest conditions.

00:46:49.233 --> 00:46:52.100
But once they bloom, they're one
of the most beautiful plants.

00:46:54.200 --> 00:46:56.433
And I feel like that's
how humans are here.

00:46:57.433 --> 00:46:58.700
We're super resilient.

00:46:58.700 --> 00:47:02.033
♪hopeful music♪

00:47:20.400 --> 00:47:24.733
-[foreign language]!

00:47:24.733 --> 00:47:27.033
[cheers]

00:47:44.867 --> 00:47:46.200
[cheers and applause]

00:47:46.200 --> 00:47:49.233
-[Kerry] This idea of, like, to
love your neighbor or to be kind

00:47:49.233 --> 00:47:50.867
to the people who
are around you,

00:47:50.867 --> 00:47:53.200
I think most Americans do
that quite well when someone's

00:47:53.200 --> 00:47:55.433
actually standing in
front of their face.

00:47:55.433 --> 00:47:57.867
But the problem is that we don't
have a handle about how to be

00:47:57.867 --> 00:48:00.367
human at at global scale.

00:48:00.367 --> 00:48:02.533
Here in a place
like Juarez and El Paso,

00:48:02.533 --> 00:48:05.600
you see the actual real
effects on human lives,

00:48:05.600 --> 00:48:08.100
the connections behind
the goods that we buy,

00:48:08.100 --> 00:48:11.200
the connections behind our
foreign policy in other places.

00:48:11.733 --> 00:48:14.200
All of that comes to a
head right here at the

00:48:14.200 --> 00:48:17.533
US-Mexico border, where
you actually can look

00:48:17.533 --> 00:48:19.733
face-to-face at the
other human being.

00:48:22.200 --> 00:48:25.400
-Party to people,
are you coming to party?

00:48:26.433 --> 00:48:28.900
Guys, there's Mexicans
trying to communicate.

00:48:28.900 --> 00:48:30.267
You must touch this.

00:48:30.700 --> 00:48:32.400
So, you put your hands on it.

00:48:32.400 --> 00:48:34.033
The one on the right is
the Mexican heartbeat,

00:48:34.033 --> 00:48:36.067
the one on the left
is the one from me.

00:48:36.067 --> 00:48:39.867
And what I feel in my hands is
the heartbeat of the person on

00:48:39.867 --> 00:48:40.933
the other side.

00:48:41.367 --> 00:48:42.900
Quick, put your hands!

00:48:44.233 --> 00:48:45.533
-That is so weird!

00:48:45.533 --> 00:48:46.867
-[Rafael] So now, you
feel their heartbeat.

00:48:46.867 --> 00:48:47.767
And they feel yours.

00:48:47.767 --> 00:48:49.100
-Ah!

00:49:01.433 --> 00:49:06.233
-The beauty of us
working together...

00:49:06.233 --> 00:49:09.433
it-- it's incredibly powerful.

00:49:09.433 --> 00:49:11.033
Salud!

00:49:11.567 --> 00:49:16.567
-[Cristóbal] We feel that,
in order to have a world,

00:49:17.033 --> 00:49:20.233
we need to divide
ourselves from one another.

00:49:22.533 --> 00:49:26.533
But it's that love
we get to experience,

00:49:26.533 --> 00:49:30.700
often times when we're
making art together,

00:49:30.700 --> 00:49:32.700
that sort of
restored, in a lot of ways,

00:49:32.700 --> 00:49:36.033
our faith in humanity.

00:49:41.200 --> 00:49:43.733
-[Rafael] There's a lot of
artists who want to create

00:49:43.733 --> 00:49:48.100
artificial realities that then
we can go and dream inside of,

00:49:48.100 --> 00:49:51.733
where all of the sudden, you can
be other than yourself and just

00:49:51.733 --> 00:49:55.567
kind of experience, like,
a field of butterflies.

00:49:55.567 --> 00:49:58.100
Well, this doesn't really
work in the real world.

00:49:58.100 --> 00:50:01.533
At this time, it's kind of
like the Zapatistas say,

00:50:01.533 --> 00:50:02.233
you know?

00:50:02.233 --> 00:50:03.767
"We're not asking you to dream.

00:50:03.767 --> 00:50:05.700
We're asking you to wake up."

00:50:05.700 --> 00:50:10.700
♪soft suspenseful music♪

00:50:28.367 --> 00:50:29.600
-[President Trump
over radio] Right now,

00:50:29.600 --> 00:50:32.033
you have another caravan forming
and it's gonna be the biggest

00:50:32.033 --> 00:50:32.700
one yet.

00:50:32.700 --> 00:50:34.033
We stopped the last one.

00:50:34.033 --> 00:50:35.733
Do you see what's
going on in Tijuana?

00:50:35.733 --> 00:50:36.933
They couldn't get
through because...

00:50:36.933 --> 00:50:38.100
-[woman] Did you sleep okay?

00:50:38.100 --> 00:50:38.867
-[President Trump over the
radio] We have a wall there,

00:50:38.867 --> 00:50:40.567
but we need a wall...

00:50:40.567 --> 00:50:42.767
-It was really
hard to fall asleep.

00:50:42.767 --> 00:50:45.433
-[President Trump over radio]
We need a very strong structure.

00:50:47.200 --> 00:50:49.200
-[Richard] History does
tend to repeat itself.

00:50:49.933 --> 00:50:52.700
It's really hard to know 20
years from now what will we--

00:50:52.700 --> 00:50:55.200
we have learned and what
will we do differently.

00:50:55.200 --> 00:50:58.367
But I do believe that by making
formally beautiful pictures of

00:50:58.367 --> 00:51:01.933
this, no matter what, this work
will stand as a record for this

00:51:01.933 --> 00:51:02.933
moment.

00:51:03.433 --> 00:51:05.533
And hopefully, it will be
something that will inform

00:51:05.533 --> 00:51:06.867
people in the future.

00:51:07.600 --> 00:51:08.600
[shutter click]

00:51:18.067 --> 00:51:20.733
-Pull this part up
a little bit more.

00:51:22.600 --> 00:51:27.267
-[Tanya] There is a really,
incredibly pertinent need for us

00:51:27.267 --> 00:51:30.433
to keep talking about the border
and to keep exploring what the

00:51:30.433 --> 00:51:35.033
border is and what the border
can do to a person's body.

00:51:57.200 --> 00:51:57.900
-[woman] Water?

00:51:57.900 --> 00:51:59.200
-[Tanya] Mm-hm.

00:52:07.067 --> 00:52:11.700
[glass dragging on stone]

00:52:37.767 --> 00:52:38.933
[glass breaking]

00:52:39.700 --> 00:52:44.700
♪dramatic strings♪

00:52:49.200 --> 00:52:49.733
[overlapping voices] Can I stop?

00:52:49.733 --> 00:52:51.567
When can I stop?

00:52:51.567 --> 00:52:52.700
Would I make it?

00:52:52.700 --> 00:52:55.700
Would I make it if I had to...

00:52:55.700 --> 00:52:58.400
like, make that journey and if I
had to be lost in the desert for

00:52:58.400 --> 00:52:59.867
two weeks?

00:52:59.867 --> 00:53:01.100
Could I make it?

00:53:02.033 --> 00:53:03.867
Okay, like, you
have enough on you.

00:53:03.867 --> 00:53:06.867
Like, we don't have to
try to put more on you.

00:53:06.867 --> 00:53:10.933
[glass dragging on stone]

00:53:30.067 --> 00:53:35.067
[heartbeat]

00:53:41.733 --> 00:53:43.867
-[Cristóbal]
It's a heavy burden.

00:53:44.400 --> 00:53:48.533
We're artists and we're
trying to sense the world...

00:53:48.533 --> 00:53:50.867
and learn from it...

00:53:51.567 --> 00:53:56.533
and through our
idiosyncratic lens....

00:53:57.367 --> 00:54:00.233
share it back out
with the world.

00:54:00.900 --> 00:54:02.033
Well...

00:54:02.233 --> 00:54:04.700
here's our lens.

00:54:05.767 --> 00:54:09.067
Take a look at the
world through it and...

00:54:09.067 --> 00:54:10.733
tell us what you think.

00:54:11.067 --> 00:54:12.400
-Just don't...

00:54:13.867 --> 00:54:16.233
walk away from it prematurely.

00:54:16.233 --> 00:54:17.867
Just give it time.

00:54:17.867 --> 00:54:19.567
-Give it a chance.

00:54:19.567 --> 00:54:20.600
-Mm-hm.

00:54:20.600 --> 00:54:22.233
Just give it some time.

00:54:29.933 --> 00:54:34.933
-♪singing in
foreign language♪

00:54:58.567 --> 00:55:01.767
-[VO] 'Art in the 21st Century:
Season 10' is available on

00:55:01.767 --> 00:55:03.700
Amazon Prime Video.