Three Border Ecologies

Three Border Ecologies reconsiders the US-Mexico border as neither a line nor border infrastructure delineating the nation’s boundaries. The US is legally policed by the US Customs and Border Patrol anywhere within a 100-mile ring around the entire country. This ring is known as the “100-mile border zone.” Three Border Ecologies reveals how the border is, and has always been, defined through seemingly abstract laws and interpretations of the law that justify containment. The project involves drawing with artists, designers and activists at three sites that represent the legal manifestation of the border as physically distributed, mutable and invisible: the permanent checkpoint at San Clemente; the temporary checkpoint near Oak Grove in the Cleveland National Forest; and the most southwestern point of the 100-mile inland border near 29 Palms and Cleghorn Lakes Wilderness. The sites are mostly unbuilt natural environments representing three distinct California ecologies: coastal chaparral (San Clemente), oak woodland (Oak Grove), and desert (Cleghorn). The intent here is to contrast these diverse living landscapes with the representation of the border as a numerical calculation of territory. In relation to the 100-mile inland border law, artists’ and activists’ diverse eye-witness perspectives of places within it gesture towards the uncontainable diversity of people and environment.

100-Mile Border Zone
Within 100 miles of all US borders, Department of Homeland Security agents including Border Patrol and ICE are legally permitted to operate checkpoints in public spaces and board any vehicle without a warrant. Within 25 miles of these borders, agents can also enter private non-residential property. The three sites listed below are located within this zone.

MexiCali Biennial
Calafia: Manifesting the Terrestrial Paradise
Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA • Oct 6, 2019 - Jan 12, 2020
Installation views of Three Border Ecologies