We Braid the Wall

Dimensions	Date
Variable dimensions |Hanging height shown is 7 feet Floor Depth Shown is 16 feet | Panel dimensions are 24”x36”x2.5”	2020
Materials
Commercial 3’x5’ Mexican and United States flags melded together with beeswax then torn in half, a 1-1 ratio between feet of mountain climbing rope and miles along the US-Mexico border hand braided together, metal climbing carabiners, and grappling hook mounted on wood panels.
Description
Material list functions as primary description. -*- Using the braid as a positive symbol of unity, this work embodies the cultural, economic, and physical interconnectedness between the United States and Mexico, especially in border towns and international metroplexes like El Paso, TX. -*- The use of rock-climbing rope references the political claim that the sections of border fencing replaced in the Trump era are “impossible to climb.” -*- In response to Mexico’s flag desecration law as well as US patriotic customs and sentiment: the acts of fusing the US and Mexican flag together (both by melding them with wax and braiding them together with rope) is an insistent act of honor, whereas the damaging rhetoric and politicized processes of separation disguised as patriotism desecrate unified and peaceful communities while also physically taxing human bodies. -*- Other associations with snakes, noose(s), veins, viruses/infection, makeshift prisons/the industrial prison complex, binding/tying/roping off are all apropos within the context of this artwork and current political climate(s).

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