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Minerva Cuevas, Crossing of the Rio Bravo

Video by Art21.

Minerva Cuevas looks back on "Crossing of the Rio Bravo" (2010), a work in which she painted a bridge across a riverbed that divides Mexico and the United States. On her visit to where the Rio Bravo / Rio Grande snakes through the Chihuahuan Desert, Cuevas found the media’s depiction of the border is inaccurate. "Violence is a very strong element in this perception of what's the border," says the artist. "Not witnessing anything connected to that kind of mediatic violence, it's the first liberation. You realize that what is intimidating is the desert itself."

In light of President Trump's proposal to build a wall along the entire border, Cuevas explains that this wall would only increase human trafficking, not stop immigration. "Nationalism is linked to violence and the Other, and the differences between communities, rather than some kind of uniting element that is more necessary," says Cuevas.

Though she believes that projects like "Crossing of the Rio Bravo" can help us rethink our perceptions, the artist knows that collective action is required to enact lasting change. "Books and projects can be important, but they won't be a solution," says the artist. "The problems or the crisis in the world is generated by everybody. So it has to be also a massive reaction."

Minerva Cuevas is a conceptual and socially-engaged artist who creates sculptural installations and paintings in response to politically-charged events, such as the tension between world starvation and capitalistic excess. Cuevas documents community protests in a cartography of resistance while also creating mini-sabotages—altering grocery store bar codes and manufacturing student identity cards—as part of her non-profit Mejor Vida Corp / Better Life Corporation. Cuevas addresses the negative impact that humans have on animals and the environment through sculptures coated in tar and tender paintings of animal rights activists, imagining a society that values all living beings.

Learn more about the artist at: https://art21.org/artist/minerva-cuevas/

CREDITS | Producer: Ian Forster. Interview: Deborah Dickson & Ian Forster. Editor: Morgan Riles. Camera: Sue Ding, Jordi Lebrija, & Hatuey Viveros. Sound: Kexolli Kwauhtlinxan. Artwork Courtesy: Minerva Cuevas & kurimanzutto. Music: Marco Raaphorst. Additional Footage Courtesy: Al Jazeera, Fundación Jumex, MSNBC, NBR, & Reuters. "Extended Play" is supported, in part, by the Art21 Contemporary Council.
Created by Smarthistory.

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Video transcript

[Minerva Cuevas: Bridging Borders] The term "political activist" is problematic. I think the challenge is to stop using the references to activism because everybody has this agency to react to daily life and therefore generate political actions. --[NEWS CORRESPONDENT] At the U.S.-Mexican border, --a fence separates two worlds. --Poverty to the south. --Wealth to the north. [CUEVAS] In general, I think my work is the research I do. I planned a project for the Mexican and U.S. border. My general idea was: If there is a border, there could be a bridge. I had never been in the area of the Rio Bravo. I learned that the historical border is the deepest part of the river. At the end I found an area that was a kind of natural bridge. And I decided to use the rocks in that part of the river to cross from the U.S. to Mexico and back. I was marking the rocks with limestone just to make a sign of the crossing. You could see this dotted line going across the Rio Bravo. With the installation, there were elements related to walking-- like walking sticks and books talking about the Chihuahuan desert. The act of walking from south to north was the most political act you could do. [NEWS CORRESPONDENT] President Trump's proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border could cost nearly 22 billion dollars. As first reported by Reuters, it could take about three-and-a-half years to build. [CUEVAS] You learn about the border through media. It's connected to limits or control. Violence is a very strong element in this perception of what's the border. Along the river, you have some border patrols; but, there were no signs. The whole area was free of any fence or wall. Not witnessing anything connected to that kind of mediatic violence, it's the first liberation. You realize that what is intimidating is the desert itself. Lately, I've been invited as part of talks that have to do with climate change or urban development and the idea of "the artist as an activist." There is this expectation of one action generating a lot of change. Books and projects can be important, but they won't be a solution. The problems or the crisis in the world is generated by everybody. So it has to be also a massive reaction what changes reality. [CROWD CHANTING] No ban, no wall! No ban, no wall! No ban, no wall! No ban, no wall! [CUEVAS] Nationalism nowadays is linked to violence and the Other and the differences between communities rather than some kind of uniting element that is more necessary nowadays. The wall wouldn't stop immigration. The wall only reinforces this original imaginary that's connecting the border with violence. In fact, it would empower human trafficking. It seems that the reactions are now getting a little bit more extreme in terms of rethinking what's being human and what do we want from not only politics but from our daily lives. How do we want to confront our reality.