Abstract
This chapter explores the border in visual culture—in the work of the British musician M.I.A. and in three murals in the border cities of Ciudad Juárez and El Paso. M.I.A.’s entire career as a refugee artist is considered, but particular attention is given to the video “Borders,” released during the peak moment of migrant deaths in the Mediterranean in 2015. In the video, M.I.A. moves the listener to encounter the reality of migrants’ lives, working against a commodification of political alliances between Europe and the Global South and eviscerating the superficiality of self-empowerment mantras. Two murals are also examined—a 65-foot one called “Under the Bridge/Bajo el Puente,” designed by Yorch, of the Colectivo Rezizte in Ciudad Juárez, and “, Sister Cities/Ciudades Hermanas,” a creation of LxsDos in the El Segundo Barrio in El Paso. These murals mark historical and contemporary traces of border life, and the chapter makes some of those traces more visible, incorporating the author’s own viewing encounters with the murals. Although the muralists and M.I.A. appear to occupy different artistic terrains, all these artists, employing the aesthetics of visually charged art forms, challenge the norms of border rules and point the way toward abolition.