Description
Home to individuals from countless walks of life, and geographically and historically placed in a critical social, economic, and political crossroads of the globe, the Mexico-United States border region is a unique space that engenders a highly complex, multidimensional culture, typified by tension, crisis and dynamism. Within this culture, contemporary art practices have collectively formed a mélange of novel creative articulations of the Border, characterized by asymmetry and disproportionate power relations. Anthropological work by contemporary scholars concludes that Tijuana is the largest, and arguably the most dynamic and conflictive city on the Border. As many theorists such as Nestor Garcia-Canclini and Norma Iglesias Prieto have observed, artists increasingly act as agents for raising awareness and promoting social change in times of socioeconomic crisis, a dynamic which can be observed clearly in Tijuana. As a case study, this thesis explores the professional trajectory of artist Marcos Ramírez ERRE, who, due to his own subjective condition/experiences, as well as his capacity to connect local concerns to the greater global context, has achieved local and international recognition. Looking at the themes, placement and media of Ramírez's pieces serves as a contextual map within which to understand art's advantage of fluidity and candidness in its strife to challenge impositions of physical and metaphorical borders. For example, viewing the border as a limit or a barrier underpins its immigration law enforcement function, in contrast with more progressive perspectives of the Border as a cultural meeting place, and an opportunity to better understand external and internal "others." The latter view naturalizes the complex transborder conditions explained next. Inspired by the spirit of Iglesias Prieto's operational dedication to define the global transborder condition that marks the lives of many, I re-appropriate it for the purposes of this research. Transborder indicates a position of being present between two worlds. It is a collective product of distinct transborder experiences -- crossings for myriad purposes that require careful consideration and negotiation of the border, that entail creativity and strategy, and that are inevitably affected by its physical construct and imposition
