WEBVTT

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[Minerva Cuevas: Bridging Borders]

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The term "political activist" is problematic.

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I think the challenge is to

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stop using the references to activism

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because everybody has this agency
to react to daily life

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and therefore generate political actions.

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--[NEWS CORRESPONDENT]
At the U.S.-Mexican border,

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--a fence separates two worlds.

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--Poverty to the south.

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--Wealth to the north.

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[CUEVAS] In general, I think my work
is the research I do.

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I planned a project for the
Mexican and U.S. border.

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My general idea was:

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If there is a border, there could be a bridge.

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I had never been in the area of the Rio Bravo.

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I learned that the historical border
is the deepest part of the river.

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At the end I found an area that was
a kind of natural bridge.

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And I decided to use the rocks
in that part of the river

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to cross from the U.S. to Mexico and back.

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I was marking the rocks with limestone

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just to make a sign of the crossing.

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You could see this dotted line going
across the Rio Bravo.

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With the installation,
there were elements related to walking--

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like walking sticks

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and books talking about the Chihuahuan desert.

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The act of walking from south to north
was the most political act you could do.

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[NEWS CORRESPONDENT]
President Trump's proposed wall

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along the U.S.-Mexico border

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could cost nearly 22 billion dollars.

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As first reported by Reuters,

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it could take about
three-and-a-half years to build.

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[CUEVAS] You learn about the border 
through media.

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It's connected to limits or control.

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Violence is a very strong element
in this perception

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of what's the border.

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Along the river, you have some border patrols;

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but, there were no signs.

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The whole area was free of any fence or wall.

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Not witnessing anything connected to that
kind of mediatic violence,

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it's the first liberation.

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You realize that what is intimidating
is the desert itself.

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Lately, I've been invited as part of talks

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that have to do with climate change

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or urban development

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and the idea of
"the artist as an activist."

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There is this expectation of one action
generating a lot of change.

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Books and projects can be important,

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but they won't be a solution.

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The problems or the crisis in the world
is generated by everybody.

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So it has to be also a massive reaction
what changes reality.

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[CROWD CHANTING] No ban, no wall!

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No ban, no wall!

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No ban, no wall!

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No ban, no wall!

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[CUEVAS] Nationalism nowadays is linked to
violence and the Other

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and the differences between communities

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rather than some kind of uniting element
that is more necessary nowadays.

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The wall wouldn't stop immigration.

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The wall only reinforces this original imaginary

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that's connecting the border with violence.

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In fact, it would empower human trafficking.

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It seems that the reactions are now
getting a little bit more extreme

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in terms of rethinking what's being human

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and what do we want from not only politics

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but from our daily lives.

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How do we want to confront our reality.