Art’s Way Of Breaking Barriers

Time and again we are faced with barriers that divide people in the name of race, creed and beliefs. From Donald Trump’s wall which if did become a reality would effectively splinter international relations with our foreign allies, to the Syrian refugee crisis and the fanatics who have hijacked the train of asylum seekers and wreaking havoc in Europe. Today, it’s more of a physical reality than it has ever been before!

People refuse to learn the lesson of the Berlin Wall and its eventual demise: build a wall and people will find a way to get over it!

Recently, i had the opportunity to visit the fabulously exquisite “Fencing in Democracy” exhibition, which was organized by Margaret Dorsey and Miguel Diaz-Barriga for apex art. I was astounded by the visual delight manifested on canvas and printed paper alike about the many consequences of divisive walls. The exhibit constituted of many a diverse presentations about individuals and impressions captured by artists across walls and borders constructed by states, nations and kingdoms.

“Walls now span across oceans and dense jungles, with 33 nations on a construction spree till date,” Diaz- Barriga and Dorsey  explained to me. “From the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla (which separate Spain from Morocco), Bangladesh from India, Yemen from Saudi Arabia, Mozambique from Botswana and the United States from Mexico, they effectively hamper free movement of people and ideas.”

As a bilingual exhibition, “Fencing in Democracy” was organized to host a consortium of artists and humanists who opposed such absurd  obstacles to the progression of mankind and civility and rather envision alternate designs to overlap boundaries and reach out to humanity and share messages of peace and harmony. It got me thinking about how borders can be easily redrawn at the whiffs of any country and should rather not be envisioned as a political tool to divide and rule over the general populace.

“I specialized in Politics and Culture on the Border, which naturally got me curious about how boundaries separate people,” Dorsey further explains her decision to pursue her curiosity into this marvelous dimension of creativity. “We were in South Texas when the DHS got busy constructing fences across its border with Mexico. That’s when we came up with the idea of researching the residents’ responses to their newfound obstruction to easy movement.”

Regardless of the political ramifications, artists like Dorsey and Diaz- Barriga continue to cross physical obstacles and reach out to the masses divided by invisible barriers segregating them on the lines of caste, religious beliefs, skin and opinions with their immersive artwork and exhibitions such as “Fencing of Democracy”.

As an apostle of abstract and modern art work, I continue to work on creating and designing my own perspective of the world that we live in. For more insights into my collection, head over here.