Crossing Borders with Susan Meiselas and Borderland Collective

The border between the United States and Mexico often evokes stark images of walls, fences, gates, and military patrols aimed to regulate and restrict the movement of people, wildlife, and goods. But though divisive impediments along the border have been in place for most of the twentieth century, this political boundary, created in 1848, has also been a site of porosity, movement, and complicated interconnections. This exhibition explores the border and its crossings by bringing together Magnum photographer Susan Meiselas and the participatory art and education project known as Borderland Collective. The exhibition considers how Meiselas’ installation Crossings irrevocably links the clandestine movement of migrants to a longer history of U.S. imperialism in Central America. It pairs this effort to reckon with injustices of the past with the collaborative practice of Borderland Collective, whose locally centered engagement with the border fosters vulnerability, uncertainty, and self-reflection while giving voice to the lived experiences of the borderlands.

Borderland Collective is a long-term participatory art and education project based in Texas. The project utilizes collaborations between artists, educators, youth, and community members to engage complex social issues and build space for diverse perspectives, meaningful dialogue, and varying modes of creation and reflection. Borderland Collective was co-founded by artist Jason Reed and educator Ryan Sprott in 2007. Each project includes varying project leads. This project is led by artists Jason Reed and Mark Menjivar, and designer Molly Sherman, alongside art historian Erina Duganne, all faculty in the School of Art and Design at Texas State University.

Susan Meiselas is a documentary photographer based in New York. She is the author of Carnival Strippers (1976), Nicaragua (1981), Kurdistan: In the Shadow of History (1997), Pandora’s Box (2001), Encounters with the Dani (2003) Prince Street Girls (2016), A Room Of Their Own (2017), Tar Beach (2020), and Carnival Strippers Revisited (2022). Meiselas is well known for her documentation of human rights issues in Latin America. Her photographs are included in North American and international collections. In 1992 she was made a MacArthur Fellow, received a Guggenheim Fellowship (2015), and most recently the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize (2019) and the first Women in Motion Award from Kering and the Rencontres d’Arles. She has been the President of the Magnum Foundation since 2007.

We have 2 events to support this exhibition:

Oct. 8 - Susan Meiselas

Nov. 21 - Erina Duganne, Mark Menjivar and Jason Reed

RSVP HERE