Motivation
Geographic significance
When artist, Morgana Wallace, first heard the call to artists for the Borders, Fences, and Gates exhibit she immediately thought of working with youth in her community, to evolve an art project expressing their personal experience with border issues. Having taught summer school art classes at the local public school, she became aware of its diverse population, as a result of living less than an hour from the Mexican border and even closer to the borders surrounding the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation. In an attempt to explore her area's unique situation, she designed a project for the Borders, Fences, and Gates exhibit that expresses visually how borders personally impact students.
Ajo, an ideal location
Ajo is a small, isolated, rural town over two hours from Tucson or Phoenix that is engulfed in border activity which employs over 200 Border Patrol and a National Guard Unit. Its population is comprised of historically disenfranchised groups of people. Its school demographics include 56% Mexican American and 20% Native American. An isolated community, Ajo is an ideal location for the Smithsonian exhibit to evolve discussion and support on border issues. This may be the first opportunity for many to have their opinions matter in a very deliberate and powerful way.
Project's impact
Starting in mid-October Morgana visited the Ajo public school to work with high school students ages 16-18 in discussing borders as a word, as an object and as a personal symbol. The students wrote, discussed and mostly drew and sculpted on the issue while she observed, photographed, and recorded the process. Then she worked similarly with students at Tohono O'odham High School on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation. This provided her with works of art, photographs and audio recording representing the students' feelings on border issues. From the finished products of her work with the students, she created an installation that honors the views which they have conveyed through their time together. It depicts their important messages and serves as a monument of how border issues are drastically affecting youth, the most vulnerable portion of our community. The Borders, Fences, and Gates exhibit is only open to artists 18 years or older however with their work as part of her finished piece, students younger than 18 years are able to have their work displayed. The final piece fosters new ways of thinking in the students while it provides the community with the youth's perspectives on a pressing issue which is very close to home. Although Morgana created the final piece, it is a compilation of the students' work, one hundred percent inspired by them and dependent upon the process and their perspectives revealed throughout.
Artist's intention
Art is a movement and a form in and of itself, however if and when it can be used as a tool to reach alternate goals, in this case, to create awareness in the community and learning opportunities for youth, then it becomes that much more powerful in its capability. Thinking critically about how current issues affect you personally and expressing it in a visual way is an excellent growing experience for all people, whether you are the creator, the observer or simply part of the issue. Morgana intends for this project to give a voice to our youth, a population whose future will be impacted by how we approach and resolve border issues today.
Funding and Support
An individual artist's mini-grant awarded by the Tucson Pima Arts Council provided the funding necessary to carry out this project. Working with students within Ajo , as well as 35 miles from Ajo at the high school on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation and eventually with Cobach High School in Sonoyta, Mexico, transportation costs were high but well worth the drive. Material costs were diverse and substantial considering the size of the installation, more than 30 feet long in total and averaging 6 feet in height. The project received such positive feedback it was moved soon after its first installation to be viewed in the main exhibit hall of the Curley School, and this move was completed by the International Sonoran Desert Alliance. This non-profit is also responsible for making the contact in Mexico to carry out the last leg of the project. The Rotary Club of Ajo also made a surprising and deeply appreciated donation towards the project and took a sincere interest in seeing its outcome. Morgana will be seeking out other funding sources to allow the project to travel and be displayed at other venues in the near future.
Educational Process
Lesson #1 What is “border”?
This lesson introduced students
to their own definition of 'border'
as a word as well as an issue.
Lesson #2 Border as symbol
This lesson had students taking
their definition of border and
drawing it as a symbol and in
turn sculpting it as a three
dimensional object.
Lesson #3 Reexamining definitions
By this point students have had a chance to discuss the project with their parents/guardians, watch videos, and see slide shows to get additional perspectives on many sides of the issue.
Lesson #4 Final project
Now that students have explored their border symbol through different media, they discuss the artwork of other border artists and create the background for their final portrait.
These educational plans were created by the artist, a former educator, to prompt subject specific and insightful perspectives . For a copy of these lesson plans or to discuss how to bring current issues into the art room, please contact the artist, Morgana Wallace.