View of Otay Mesa, Mexico from San Diego County, California showing the United States-Mexico border fence, from the series "Running Fence"

People:

Geoffrey James (photographer)

Title:

View of Otay Mesa, Mexico from San Diego County, California showing the United States-Mexico border fence, from the series "Running Fence"

Date:

1997

Description:

The series "Running Fence 1997" focuses "on the first 14 miles of the border fence that separates the United States and Mexico, beginning at the Pacific Ocean and ending in the Otay Mountains.... [It] analyzes the "idea" of the border and explores its iconography, the border being a subject that is of extreme importance to the public as the world proceeds towards greater globalization. [Geoffrey] James has written of the project: "[The border fence] was built by the US Army Corps of Engineers in 1994, out of recycled metal landing strip - the most visible symbol of what is known as Operation Gatekeeper. Because the steel sheets are placed in the ground so that their ridges run horizontally, a man can hop over the fence with ease; and no Mexican child ever seems to be impeded from retrieving a soccer ball from US territory. The real barrier to illegal immigration from Mexico into the USA is less visible: hundreds of buried sensors linked to a central computer, nightscopes, helicopters and Border Patrol Agents in white Broncos."" (Evans).

Form:
photographs

Quantity / Object type:
1 photograph(s)

Technique and media:

Gelatin silver print

Dimensions:

composition: 46,1 × 57,9 cm (18 1/8 × 22 13/16 in.) sheet: 50,5 × 60,3 cm (19 7/8 × 23 3/4 in.)

Reference number:

PH1997:0060

Point of View:

partial view
exterior view

Inscription:

inscribed, dated and signed on verso - by the photographer, in graphite, verso, lower left: "Running Fence 97"; lower centre: with title and "AP"; lower right: "Geoffrey James"

Location:

Mesa de Otay; Tijuana; Baja California; Mexico;

Subject:

architecture
engineering
topographic

Subject Descriptive Terms:

fence
houses
city
buildings
mountains
geopolitical boundaries

Credit line:
Collection Centre Canadien d'Architecture/
Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal;
Don de Geoffrey James et Jessica Bradley/
Gift of Geoffrey James and Jessica Bradley

Actions:

Add to folder

Request these items

Email this list to yourself (or someone else)

Your folder is empty.

Please complete this form to make a request for consultation. A copy of this list will also be forwarded to you.

Your contact information

First name:

Last name:

Email:

Phone number:

Notes (optional):

We will contact you to set up an appointment. Please keep in mind that your consultation date will be based on the type of material you wish to study. To prepare your visit, we'll need:

— At least 2 weeks for primary sources (prints and drawings, photographs, archival documents, etc.)
— At least 48 hours for secondary sources (books, periodicals, vertical files, etc.)

Back to list

Submit