USC Annenberg presents an exhibition of images by photographer María Teresa Fernández documenting life and death along the border fence between the United States and Mexico. The exhibit, "Cerca de la Cerca - Near the Border Fence," runs until May 20, 2009.
USC Annenberg will present the exhibit in the Annenberg Gallery on the second floor of the Annenberg School building, 3502 Watt Way in Los Angeles. The public and press are invited to the exhibit’s opening reception on Tuesday, Oct. 14 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Regular viewing hours will be Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The exhibit is free and open to the public (view a sample of the photos here).
“For a school of communication and journalism, the obligation to show rather than merely tell about the most important issues and concerns of our time is an important part of our educational mission,” says Larry Gross, director of the School of Communication and an expert in visual communication. “The border fence is a political object and it is also a cultural object that has been touched – literally – by the hopes and the suffering it represents. These photographs bring us face to face with the reality of this scar on the landscape and on our national soul.”
Fernández immigrated to the United States from Mexico in 1991, the same year construction of the border fence began. She has documented life and death along its edges since 2001, when work on the physical barrier between the two countries intensified following 9/11.
“This border fence has been both the witness and the cause of so many deaths of people filled with ambitions,” says Fernández. “[It] has become a handkerchief of tears, a canvas where family members, artists and activists paint their emotions, their frustrations and their inconformity. This way, their respect, is made evident, for all the deceased. Here, at the border fence, they are remembered.”
The exhibition demonstrates how the fence has evolved and changed physically through both man and nature’s interaction. It also tells personal stories of families reunited, if temporarily, at Friendship Park, the only place along the fence where people can touch loved ones on the other side. The ocean has displaced some of the rails and people can cross over for a few moments under the watchful eyes of the Border Patrol. “People make appointments to meet there,” says Fernández.
Like the fence itself, the exhibit of approximately 80 photographs will evolve and change over the course of its run. Fernández continues to document developments along the fence, which she visits each week, and plans to include new images as they are shot.
“This is an opportunity for students and others to see the border through a different set of eyes—to see how the official border and the unofficial border are in dialogue with each other and inform each other,” says Kun.
Fernández’ photography has been recognized by institutions such as Nikon, Canon, Photographer’s Forum, Red Plástica and the magazine Artes de México. Her work—including “Cerca de la Cerca,” “Arquitectos a la Fuerza” and “El Juguete Mexicano…solo un recuerdo”—has been exhibited throughout México in Tijuana, Mexicali, Tecate, Guadalajara, San Luis Potosí and Oaxaca. In the United States her work has been exhibited in San Diego, New York and Pasadena. In November 2006, the images of “Cerca de la Cerca” were part of the conference ”Life in the Shadow of the Wall,” celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Cerca de la Cerca: Along the Border Fence is presented in partnership with the Armory Center for the Arts. For more information on the exhibition, visit annenberg.usc.edu or call (213) 821-3015.
