Name/Title
America's WallEntry/Object ID
2022.13Description
Video of performance documentation playing on TV screen alongside a large textile with brownish/gold striping and a blue streak at the top.Context
America’s Wall (El muro de America) was inspired by the persistent questioning that Tanya Aguiñiga received during her travels between the US and Mexico regarding the existence of a wall on the countries’ borders. Aguiñiga grew up on both sides of the San Diego/Tijuana border, crossing between Mexico and the United States daily for 14 years. Aguiñiga’s work documents and extracts evidence of the wall’s existence—there are three consecutive walls in the part of Mexico where Aguiñiga grew up —all in front of Trump’s proposed wall prototypes. The particular section of the border fence found in this work is made up of corrugated jet-landing mats recycled from Operation Desert Storm during the Gulf War. This wall segment was erected during Operation Gatekeeper in 1994, a strategic reinforcement tactic on the US/Mexico Border, which was responsible for more migrant deaths in its first year than in the entirety of the previous 75 years of Border Patrol history. Aguiñiga and her team from the bi-national project AMBOS (“both” in Spanish, or an acronym for “art made between opposite sides” in English) took rust impressions on cotton from these walls, as evidence of their existence.Acquisition
Accession
2022.13Source or Donor
Volume GalleryAcquisition Method
PurchaseCredit Line
Courtesy of the artistDimensions
Height
62-3/4 inWidth
54-1/2 in