Border as Network

School of Art MFA artists will present their photographs and other works related to their fall 2024 field class, “Border as Network.” The exhibition, at Pidgin Palace Arts, 1110 S. Sixth Ave., will run from Aug. 9 to Aug. 30 with a reception on Saturday, Aug. 23, at 7 p.m.

Taught by Professor David Taylor, the course allowed the graduate students to explore the Arizona/Sonoran Desert borderlands and understand its ecology, people, history and narratives — and how the landscape has transformed in the last two decades by an array of inputs. Read more about their experiences.

According to Taylor: “Border as Network” aimed to connect local circumstances of the Tucson, Nogales, Hermosillo corridor and consider that expanded territory as an indicator of global conditions. The itinerary sought to prompt connections across a series of destinations, including religious sites, tribal lands, multinational factories, threatened ecosystems, international agribusinesses, sites of resource extraction and contested territory all fed into an arc of experience designed to be catalyst for research and creative production.

Against a backdrop of competing, simplified portrayals of the border — during an election year — Taylor said the central objectives of the course were to bring dimension and context to the this place we call home. Ideally, participants built capacity to navigate the borderlands with an appreciation for complexity and connection. The students’ work offers an indication of how they each of them absorbed their respective experience, he said.

Artists:

• Andrés Caballero
• Beihua Guo
• Porter McDonald
• Camille Trautman
• Alexis Hagestad
• Eden Squires
• Benjamin Davis
• Lu Zheng
• Semoria F. Mosley
• Maya Jackson

Sites:

• San Xavier del Bac Mission
• Copper Queen Mine
• Camp Naco
• Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum
• San Rafael Valley Natural Area
• Coronado National Memorial
• Ambos Nogales
• Hermosillo Ford Maquiladora
• Universidad de Sonora, Hermosillo
• Bahía de Kino Aquaculture
• Museo Regional de Sonora
• Arivaca
• Warsaw Canyon Buffalo Soldiers’ Cemetery
• Samaritans Aid Camp at the end of the Border Wall
• Borderlands Restoration Network Wildlife Preserve

Gallery hours

• Wednesday: Noon-8 p.m.
• Thursday-Saturday: 5-8 p.m.
• Monday-Saturday: Book a visit to be sure