Along the Mexico Border, Lost Objects Become Art NPR.org
go to original November 24, 2014

Misrach: “When I stumbled upon these human effigies along the California–Mexico border in 2009, the project suddenly became real for me. Here were these objects — made with agave sticks and hung with discarded clothes like scarecrows — that were so disturbing and haunting and mysterious. Were they meant to warn the immigrants coming over the mountain pass? Were they created to protest the Border Patrol? Or were they simply intended as art? They’re so open to interpretation.” (Richard Misrach/Fraenkel Gallery)

Depictions of the U.S.-Mexico border often show a fence, and desolation on either side.

But the nearly 2,000-mile stretch of land is far from empty - among other things, it holds lost possessions.

Photographer Richard Misrach spent the last five years documenting everything he came across along the border. During his expedition, he says, it was common to find items left in the middle of nowhere by migrants passing through.

"It could be backpacks, and water bottles, tennis shoes, things like that. Each one of those objects has this incredible story, and it's a tragedy. Every single one of them is a tragedy," Richard Misrach tells guest host Tess Vigeland. "Tennis shoes of a 4-year-old, two of them, just sitting there without the child in them. What does that mean?"

Joining Misrach in the interview is composer Guillermo Galindo. After Misrach's journey, he asked Galindo to build instruments out of those found objects. The music that Galindo created sounds just like the desolate landscapes captured in Misrach's stunning photographs.

During his travels, Richard Misrach stumbled upon mysterious figures in desert canyons. To make this one into an instrument, Guillermo Galindo added strings across the chest and arms of the effigy. i

During his travels, Richard Misrach stumbled upon mysterious figures in desert canyons. To make this one into an instrument, Guillermo Galindo added strings across the chest and arms of the effigy.

Misrach and Galindo's work will go on exhibit at the San Jose Museum of Art in the spring of 2016. Click the audio link above to hear what some of the instruments sound like; you can see more photographs at California Sunday Magazine.

Read the rest at NPR.org

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