Frontier/Frontera is an ongoing project that reevaluates the narratives that make up our understanding of the American West, with particular attention to the U.S./Mexico borderlands.
The literal meaning of the word "frontier" is identical in both English and Spanish. However, its vernacular usage in each language is strikingly different. In the American psyche the frontier is an elusive destination; the locus of such national allegories as individuality, self-reliance and freedom. It is “The-Great-Out-There-Just-Beyond-the-Horizon.” Conversely, "la frontera" adheres to literal definitions – it is the border or borderline; it is a barrier.
The American West is still portrayed as a compilation of its romantic icons: grand vistas, rugged cowboys, savage natives and lonely cacti. The ongoing settlement of the western states is, in part, fueled by our investment in those icons. By contrast, the U.S./Mexico Border currently exists as a militarized zone in our national consciousness: it is a state of politicized reality that is in direct conflict with our idealized image of the West. Furthermore, to migrants, the border is an obstacle between them and a living wage.
The frontier is a moving target with meaning that is contingent on vantage point. As my work describes, it is both a plane of unlimited promise and a liminal border with boundaries that are yet to be negotiated.
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Sunrise, Barry Goldwater Airforce Gunnery Range, 2006%%%
