The relationship between neighbouring countries is a complex one. It is brought together not only by geography but by multi-layered and broad-reaching ties. It expands over political, cultural and social strata. The Mexico-US relationship is steep in history, yet Trump’s arrival to office and his incongruous proposal to build a wall possibly put relations between the two countries at its most hostile since 1848. Then, a period in history referred to as the Mexican War led to the cession of land and the redrawing of Mexico’s northern border.

along the (drawn) line is a video piece constructed solely with internet-based material by implementing google street view and google maps to trace a virtual path throughout the length of the Mexico-US border. For the video piece, a “viable” walking route was mapped out from the west to the east coast. The path is displayed in the video with superimposed images of the urban sprawl on each side of the border. These images were solely sourced from flickr and are all under a Creative Commons license.

The piece is twofold in meaning; for one, it is looking to subvert the original intention of the digital applications it employs, veering them towards grounds of aesthetic research and political discourse. And two, prompting the viewer to question the arbitrary nature of borders and the building of the proposed wall. Contemplating that boundaries and geographical limitations are accidental, human-made, drawn by hand on maps and not nature.