For the video performances I see the path and When I have to cross the bar, the artist worked with a group of Mexican men and a group of Mexican women. Some of the participants had crossed the border, some were related to family members who had crossed. Locations were chosen along the treacherous route upon which migrants travel. Women and men experience distinctly different border-crossings. The men tended to travel in groups and attempt to evade the border patrol with greater risk, and as a result suffered much higher mortality rates. The women often travelled with young children and upon crossing the border would telephone the Border Patrol in hope that they would be detained rather than risk the wilderness. The participants self-determined their actions and how they would address the camera. The women and men stand silently at all times, with one exception: we hear the women's voices when they recite a prayer. The work is a close look at the border crossers, their path and their journey: it is a suggestion for an empathic connection to the communities moving through these borderlands to find the basic human right to life and safety.

Originally commissioned and produced by Artpace San Antonio