“It’s not just about seeing through the fence, but it’s hearing through the fence, it’s breathing through the fence. It’s the weight of the fence on you. It’s walking with it. It’s all of these different ways that I feel that might be able to show people a little window into what it feels like.”
In This Episode
Christina De León speaks to Tanya Aguiñiga about Metabolizing the Border, the performative embodiment of her engagement with the people and the landscape at the borderlands between Mexico and the US. With frank candor, Aguiñiga describes her years on the road and the environment, politics, and trauma that animate her work, as well as the emotional and spiritual difficulty of the performance and its aftermath.
A transcript of episode 8 is forthcoming.
Tanya Aguiñiga is a Los Angeles-based artist, designer, and craftsperson who was raised in Tijuana, Mexico. In her formative years she created various collaborative installations with the Border Arts Workshop, an artists’ group that engages the languages of activism and community-based public art. Her current work uses craft as a performative medium to generate dialogues about identity, culture, and gender while creating community.
References
- Christina De Leon
- Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
- Tanya Aguiñiga
- Metabolizing The Border
- Pilchuck Glass School
- Dale Chihuly
- AMBOS Project
- Border Art Workshop
- Juan Diego and the Virgen de Guadalupe
- Art21
The Fields of the Future podcast amplifies the voices and highlights the work of scholars, artists, and writers who are injecting new narratives into object-centered thinking. Join us for engaging conversations between BGC faculty and fellows and their guests.
