Pablo López Luz is a Mexican photographer that documents the landscape of the U.S.- Mexico border. The Escalette Collection will display two photographs from his project, Frontera, at our exhibit, The Border: An Interdisciplinary Examination. Not only are these photographs visually stunning, they explore the sense of division that the border depicts.

For this photographer, the border is a narrative, rather than an object. It is an aggregation of stories—tales of expansion, aspiration, dreams and wounds. These two works are from his Frontera project, a series shot during the winter of 2014 and the summer of 2015 in the territory along the border between San Diego (Tijuana) and El Paso (Ciudad Juarez). These photographs, shot on helicopter flights that spanned 1,295 miles, are intended to disrupt the dominant narrative of the border as a zone of contention, and emphasize its nature as common ground.

The photographs tell their own story of social and cultural separation. These are aerial shots, showing the line of the border, which Luz describes as an “open wound.” It depicts the two places that the border establishes as well as telling the story of violence between the U.S. and Mexico. It expresses the history of the people who have lived there over the years. The photographs represent the division of people and communities. Luz uses his photographs to tell political and social messages during times of conflict surrounding the border.

 

Calexico-Mexicali VII, Frontera USA-Mexico 

Inkjet Print

The Phyllis and Ross Escalette Permanent Collection of Art

Purchased with Acquisition Funds

 

 

San Diego-Tijuana XI, Frontera USA-Mexico

Inkjet Print

The Phyllis and Ross Escalette Permanent Collection of Art

Purchased with Acquisition Funds