Continuing through May 5, 2012
This smartly curated show is composed of photographs that include rough panoramas, to wrenching shots of Juarez’s “Boys’ Town,” to clashes with Mexican Federales. "Border" is an exhibition about pain, aspiration and tribulation. If you open yourself to it, you’ll gain an appreciation of the quest on the part of our neighbors to the south for a better life.
Delilah Montoya’s “Humane Borders Water Station” shows us a trail, gorgeous sky and scruffy brush. Three huge canisters are shown and labeled “AGUA” — they’re flagged to let migrants know there’s relief at hand. They can refresh themselves before continuing their path to the contemporary version of a land of milk and honey, aka “salvation.”
Jeffrey Silverthorne’s images of prostitutes are so capable of inspiring repulsion that it’s understandable that viewers long to look away. “Purple Body Suit, NL” especially disgusts me. And that’s what makes it worthy of recognition. It’s an image of the feminine so debased that any vessels of culture we long to keep whole are irrevocably broken. Add to this Teun Voeten’s images of the politics of drug cartels and gangs and you’ve got a world, whole and entire, that brings up the question of whether it will continue to be tolerated. The host gallery has done its part. Now it’s our turn.