the border dweller series

As an artist, I use my art as a means of asking questions and exploring issues . it is a personal and physical means of exploring the unknown, or perhaps the known, and taking ideas through  visual response or representation.

The Border Dwellers series started in response to the crisis at the US-Mexico border. I was appalled by the treatment of people who were searching for a better life for themselves and their families.

The pieces here, here and there, there are about the disconnect between living in comfort, in a beautiful part of the world ls here on the coast, and the intensely different experience of the families waiting at the border. I wanted to challenge myself by holding these two experiences in my mind simultaneously – the warmth of the sun and the smell of the sea, versus the cold of the concrete and the scent of many humans in an enclosed space.

I was also interested in the profitability of the holding camps, wondering who was making money by having people kept indoors. The pieces net worth, bottom line, and hedge fund are all inspired by that thought – that our economic system is such that there is always someone who is able to profit from the misfortune of another. How do we balance our own personal need and desired for what is best for our families, with the those same desires held by families in a different geography? Is the gain/loss dance an absolute?

body of knowledge was a direct response to the forced separation of children from their families. Our bodies hold so much information, so much history – how will these children’s bodies be altered by this experience? What knowledge will they carry, and will they carry it for the rest of their lives?