The Chicano Artists of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez Transcend the US-Mexico Border Avery White and Holly Devon - VICE
go to original July 4, 2017

Borderland Jam mural by Myker Yrrobal, El Paso, Texas.

With a foot in each world, people along the border have developed a shared culture that transcends nationality and documentation. Refusing to let economics or politics come between them, the artists of El Paso and its bordering town Ciudad Juárez use art to bridge the divide. As they like to put it, " Ninguna pieza es ilegal!" ("No work of art is illegal!")

In the past decade, the sister cities have witnessed an explosion of street art festivals, gallery shows, and new art collectives. The fronterizos , who see El Paso-Juárez as one city with a river running between it, have a reputation for creating elaborate murals with plenty of politics.

Part of "El PasoPortAll" mixed media Mural by Werc at the El Paso/Juarez Border Entry

According to David Flores, the founder of Ciudad Juarez's Colectivo Rezizte and co-founder of Puro-Borde, the first artists to develop the Rezizte collective were "transborderistas" who used art as a way to develop a fronterizo identity. "Colectivo Rezizte was born in 2003 out of the crack that opens between two juxtaposed cultures on the northern border of Mexico[ ...] bringing together different forms of expression and different genres to celebrate the diversity that makes us fronterizos," says Flores.

When these artists began hosting lively community events, they established themselves at the center of cultural life along the border. Flores recalls that one of the more memorable events in the early years featured Lucha Libre matches, poetry readings, live paintings, and surf rock. "Collaboration is key in creating autonomous art [with the purpose of serving] the community," says Flores.

Read the rest and see photos at VICE

Related: Mexican Artist, Illegal Immigrants to Build Wall Then Tear It Down (Washington Examiner)

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