Through her work and performances, Jessica Fairfax Hirst sets out to determine the capabilities of humanity through the interactions that occur at the manmade borders of nations. As a multidisciplinary artist, she has worked to push the bounds of creative expression with video, performance, installation, and 3D collage. Jessica’s artistic process complements the themes of her work, focusing on sociopolitical issues such as migration, climate change, the impact of U.S interventions in Latin America, neurodiversity, and the roles and boundaries in the ecosystems that we inhabit. Her process with site-specific creation was partly influenced by her experiences living in Spain, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. Changing and adapting to different environments and learning about its inhabitants. From these experiences, the themes behind the four-and-a-half video performance art Frontera came to fruition. The final piece blossomed from two locations, that might as well have been worlds apart.
In the performance piece Frontera, Jessica films two different border locations worlds apart. One was at the U.S.-Mexico border, where San Diego. U.S. meets Tijuana, Mexico, and the other is at the Germany-Netherlands border. Two aerial shots, accompanied by the sound of helicopters circling overhead, is utilized first to illustrate where these borders are. Next, the Star-Spangled Banner plays on top of the helicopter noises, eventually drowning out the helicopters. The two shots are shown side-by-side, documenting the one-on-one interactions that an individual has with each respective border. In the video footage from the Germany-Netherlands border, the snippets of conversations, kids sliding down slides and crawling all over the playground, and the open road all play different but important roles in the conversation about borders. The people in the Germany-Netherlands border video created a makeshift border with barricade tape, and then easily broke through. In the end, the makeshift border was not treated as an obstacle.
Simultaneously with the U.S.-Mexico border, various checkpoints stand guard between the two nations. The only human interaction that occurs is with the toll attendant. Walls have been put up, but that didn’t stop people from discovering the humanity in each other from across the seemingly impenetrable barrier. Crosses adorned the border wall, names inscribed in black. The woman in the video, wearing red, blue, and stars, clung to each cross as she made her way across the wall.
One video demonstrates joy, freedom, and playfulness on a subject that across the
globe in one of the most highly politically controversial borders, one could only hope.
Both videos have one thing in common: hope. How it is portrayed in each location
cannot be more true to its essence.
To meet the artist, Jessica Fairfax-Hirst, please join tonight’s event at the DC Public Library (MLK location) from 6pm – 8pm.
Written by Wendy Buendia
Love4Immigrants 