W E A V I N G T H E W A L L
In the U.S./MX borderlands, thousands of people have died in the desert on their journey north. Their stories are held in items left behind, strewn across the ecosystem. I began to collect these discarded items.
With my backstrap loom, I attached myself to the border wall and wove these stories together.
I wove this piece in the company of border wall builders as they bulldozed the earth. I wove in the company of jackrabbits, rattlesnakes, and hacked-apart saguaros. I did this over many years, in dozens of construction areas along the border in Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico, until the piece was as tall as the wall itself.
Weaving the wall is my way of piecing back together what has been frayed and forgotten. I weave in honor of the lives stolen, and in recognition of our woven land, ecosystems, and culture.
