NORTH ADAMS, MASS. —Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) Gallery 51 is collaborating
with faculty from MCLA and Williams College to bring Hostile Terrain 94, an interdisciplinary
installation with related academic programming that illustrates in stark terms the
violence of United States border policies, to the Northern Berkshires.
A multi-site, interactive installation, Hostile Terrain 94 memorializes the thousands
of people who have perished seeking to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Gallery 51 is
one of over 100 sites worldwide hosting this exhibition, which will open in February
2021. Before the exhibition opens, this installation will come to MCLA’s campus to
engage in conversation with the MCLA and regional community about immigration, belonging,
and social change.
This program will encompass the whole of the 2020-2021 academic year, beginning with
workshops and guest speakers in fall 2020 and continue through Spring 2021 after the
exhibition opening in February 2021.
In concert with HT94, Gallery 51 will feature the work of Sergio de la Torre, Chris
Treggiari of Sanctuary City Project (SCP), and Trinh Mai, all of whom will collaborate
with students, faculty, and the community on a series of workshops and experiences
that examine identity, belonging, fear, and trauma. Students will conduct interviews
with family and community members to create their own SCP-like posters. These works
will be distilled down to work that SCP will incorporate into the Gallery 51 exhibition.
HT94 is sponsored and organized by the Undocumented Migration Project (UMP), a nonprofit
research-art-education-media collective directed by anthropologist Jason De León.
The exhibition is composed of 3,200 handwritten toe tags that represent migrants who
have died trying to cross the Sonoran Desert of Arizona between the mid-1990s and
2019. These tags are geolocated on a wall map of the desert showing the exact locations
where remains were found. This installation will simultaneously take place at a large
number of institutions, both nationally and globally.
In preparation for the exhibit, 3,205 toe tags will be filled out by MCLA students
and community members; these will be displayed on a map as part of Gallery 51’s Hostile Terrain exhibition
in February.
The Berkshire community is also invited to join in reflection and dialogue through
artwork of the Sanctuary City Project, to answer questions posed to prompt reflection
and self-interrogation around and about immigration policy in the U.S. The Sanctuary
City Project and BCRC have launched a series of billboards, banners, posters, and
postcards that will be on display in North Adams and Pittsfield; all will ask community
members to answer the questions “When did you forget you were an immigrant?” and “What
would you tell an immigrant?” with community responses gathered via a phone line.
This semester, BCRC launched a community read in relation to the exhibit, with a reading
list pulled together by participating artists and professors. MCLA professors Lisa
Donovan (arts management), Victoria Papa (English and Communications), Melanie Mowinski
(art), and Anna Jaysane Darr (anthropology), as well as Williams College Lipp Family
Endowed Chair of Dance Sandra Burton, are partnering to find intersections around
HT94 for their students. A course, taught by Jaysane Darr, will incorporate programming
that will be offered throughout the year by Gallery 51.
“This project is a continuation of the work MCLA, via BCRC, are committed to doing,
using art as the vehicle,” said BCRC Director Erica Wall. “Hostile Terrain provides
us all another opportunity to reflect, respond, and act in order to engage in the
difficult conversations that not only move us forward but also bring us together.”
“This project is not just about immigration,” Wall said. “HT94 is about discussing
and sharing with one another the common histories and narratives that break down our
personal borders and consequently build the bridges that connect us.”
Learn more about this project and the related programming at mclahostileterrain.com.
Watch a video about the project: https://www.mclahostileterrain.com/hostile-terrain-at-mcla
About BCRC:
MCLA’s Berkshire Cultural Resource Center (BCRC) provides opportunities, resources, and support to the Northern Berkshire Community. BCRC brings together the Northern Berkshire , MCLA and greater Creative Communities through its cultural programming including: MCLA Gallery 51, Downstreet Art, B-Hip, and MCLA Presents! We will promote, facilitate, and encourage a dialogue in order to foster a sustainable creative community. BCRC is a collaborative project of MCLA, MASS MoCA, and the City of North Adams.
