By Katia Lopez-Hodoyan
Ana Teresa Fernandez has been called an artist many times, but not too long ago, she was also called a terrorist. Her only “weapon” though is paint. Her work gained international attention along the rusty iron border that divides San Diego from Playas de Tijuana. Over the years, she noticed that amid the clashing waves, the bars that divide the U.S and Mexico had somehow become part of the scenery. They stood out like a sore thumb, yet for better or worse, they were now part of the beach. Fernandez wanted to change that – and she did.
The young artist decided to paint over the iron bars, one brush stroke at a time. She studied the color of the sky, went to Home Depot and bought gallons of paint to camouflage the bars so they would blend with the sky’s hazy blue undertones. That was back in 2011. The project garnered so much attention, she decided to do the same in Nogales in 2015. Now, she’s getting ready for round three. On Saturday April 9, she will “erase” the border in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. Community members will simultaneously do the same in the Mexicali border, and also in Agua Prieta, Sonora. The entire three hour project will be streamed live.
“People who live along the border, see the border as old news,” says Fernandez. “As an artist, you don’t want to force people to look at something, so you have to change your approach. It’s all done in a very peaceful and non-aggressive manner. Minutemen and vigilantes have guns. All I have is paint.”
Fernandez is originally from the Mexican city of Tampico in Tamaulipas, but she grew up in San Diego. Like most locals, she saw the border fence as part of daily life. So much so, that with time she became desensitized to it. Ironically, the reality of the border came alive when she left San Diego and moved to San Francisco 15 years ago.
“When I moved to Northern California, I heard so many stories about this journey,” says Fernandez. “When I was a kid, I would cross the border to visit relatives in Mexico, but when I got older I started to understand the dynamic. In San Francisco, I heard from waiters, students and domestic workers. That’s when the reality of the border hit home. It was eye opening and heartbreaking.”
So Fernandez decided to go back to the San Diego border to “erase” a section of it. The optical illusion project was just as polarizing as the issue of immigration itself. Some welcomed her art, others were highly critical of it. In Arizona, those against it, called her a terrorist and a disgrace to the U.S. Still, she kept on painting to prove a simple point: “I just want to offer a different perspective,” she explains.
The inspiration for this project was laid out years ago. From an early age, Fernandez was surrounded by activism. She would often participate in rallies and protests with her parents and grandparents. But sometimes, it felt like all the screaming and shouting fell onto deaf ears. Even more, it seemed like the protesters were yelling at one another, with little recognizable impact out on the ground. ‘Erasing’ the Border was a way to counteract that aggressive approach.
To add on to the symbolism, Fernandez decided to wear a black dress and black stilettos as she painted over the fence. It is a way to honor the immigrants who lost their lives as they tried to make their way to the United States.
“It’s about paying homage and about mourning or ‘luto’ as we say in Spanish,” explains Fernandez. “In Tijuana, I think my wardrobe actually prevented my arrest. Officials started questioning me, but they hesitated when they saw the way I was dressed. They looked at me as a lady, not a hoodlum.”
The project is still triggering attention across the globe. From Al Jazeera Network
to Sky News in Italy, Fernandez has been interviewed by countless media outlets, giving her work and her message an international platform. The project has also inspired other artists to carry out their own artwork along the border area. Given the current political climate in the country, the issue of immigration is now more relevant than ever, especially in border towns.
“With presidential primaries in full swing and with so much political rhetoric about immigration and building a wall, I think the message is, ‘It’s time to discuss this,’” says Fernandez. “We shouldn’t have waited for people with extreme views to bring it to our attention. I’m not publicizing one political party over another. All I’m saying is, ‘let’s engage in a different point of view. Let’s look at other possibilities.’”
As an instructor at the San Francisco Art Institute, Fernandez has taken part in many performance art projects along the border. But there was something invitingly raw about ‘Erasing the Border, ‘ she says. There was no script, no set, no lights. Just the reality of a rusty border fence, set up along two neighboring countries and under one sky.
“As a political artist you don’t want to hit people over the head to get your message across,” she explains. “But you want to help them perceive something old in a new way.”
The upcoming “Erasing the Border” project in Ciudad Juarez, Mexicali and Agua Prieta, Sonora will be shown through Twitter’s live streaming app, Periscope. The event will kick off on Saturday April 9th from 9:00a.m to noon. The Twitter handle is
@Borderarte