Binational artists in Douglas and Agua Prieta staged a performance on both sides of the border.
about 150 people congregated by the side of the tall, steel wall dividing Douglas from Agua Prieta, Sonora.
They talked to store owners, passersby, teachers, classmates and grandparents. For Robles, a member of the collective and a 24-year-old visual artist from Agua Prieta, one of her favorite experiences was approaching, audio recorder in hand, drivers waiting in the car line to cross into the United States, he said.
In English, Spanish and Spanglish, the stories of love, separation and the pandemic unfolded in three acts. At several points during the performance, a Border Patrol vehicle crossed the stage set up on the U.S. side, as if on cue.As the event was about to start, two women talked to each other through the narrow openings of the border fence.The young woman standing on the Douglas side and carrying a small child in her arms, heard about the play and made plans to meet her grandmother.
They explored how the pandemic had affected them, further deepening the divide between their two homes. For nearly 600 days, people who used to go back and forth between the two cities almost daily could not cross the border. Many were blocks away from family and friends on the other side yet could not cross because they did not hold U.S. citizenship or residency. Their reasons for crossing were not considered essential.
Dance academies on both sides of the border facilitate that creative exchange, offering space to blend contemporary and traditional dances. the southern side of the steel wall in Agua Prieta with colorful art. In 2015, the Mexican Consulate sponsored “Dreams Without Borders,” a series of murals, executed by seven artists with volunteers from Mexico and the U.S.
Over the 18-foot-tall wall, the light from the projector moved in waves. The solid lines of the steel bollards danced in curves and moved away from each other in a vertical ripple. Because young adults from the borderlands were involved in the making of this site-specific play, the narrative has a caring tone. They talked about family separation, migration, death and the pandemic “in a loving way, in a respectful way,” Robles said. A contrast to the usual media narratives that frame the border negatively, as a place of “doom,” she added.
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