Hostile Terrain 94: A Project by the Undocumented Migration Project at Chapman UniversityMain MenuHostile Terrain 94 - Participants ReflectHostile Terrain at Chapman UniversityRaul Baltazar and Tochtli 7 the Aztec Bunny - An Interview with the artist about his video worksAn Interview With the Artist About His Video WorksRaul Baltazar - A Selection of Video WorksA Selection of Video WorksTHE BORDER/ LA FRONTERA father of COYOTE CULTUREMarcus Herse0219eb2a5a2992ddcae46fff7974d31b23cfc1a5
Hostile Terrain 94 by the Undocumented Migration Project
Hostile Terrain 94 (HT94) is a participatory art project sponsored and organized by the Undocumented Migration Project (UMP), a non-profit 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 2020.
Background
In 1994 the United States Border Patrol formally implemented the immigration enforcement strategy known as “Prevention Through Deterrence.” This was a policy designed to discourage undocumented migrants from attempting to cross the U.S/Mexico border near urban ports of entry. Closing off these historically frequented crossing points would funnel individuals attempting to cross the border illegally through more remote and depopulated regions where the natural environment would act as a deterrent to movement. It was anticipated that the difficulties people would experience while traversing dozens of miles across what the Border Patrol deemed the “hostile terrain” of places such as the Sonoran desert of Arizona would ultimately discourage migrants from attempting the journey. This strategy failed to deter border crossers and instead, more than six million people have attempted to migrate through the Sonoran desert of Southern Arizona since 2000. At least 3,200 people have died, largely from dehydration and hyperthermia, while attempting this journey through Arizona. In recent years, this policy has shifted people towards Texas, where hundreds (if not thousands) have perished while migrating through unpopulated wilderness. Prevention Through Deterrence is still the primary border enforcement strategy being used on the U.S./Mexico border today.
The Installation
Over the course of two months in the fall of 2020 (leading up to the American presidential election), 94 pop-up installations will be realized simultaneously around the globe in locations including Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Seattle, Miami, Mexico City, San Pedro Sula (Honduras), San Salvador (El Salvador), and Lampedusa (Italy). These installations will be a 16-20 foot long map of the Arizona/Mexico border with ~3200 hand written toe tags. These tags represent the recovered bodies of people who have died between 2000 and 2020 crossing the US/Mexico border through the Sonoran Desert. These tags are color coded (manila for identified bodies and orange for the approximately 1,000 unidentified) and will be filled out by teams of volunteers who will then publicly place them in the exact locations on the map where those individuals were found. These tags are synched to a large grid to ensure accurate placement of individual remains. Each map will come with introductory wall text explaining the project and also feature an augmented reality (AR) experience to accompany the map that can be accessed for free using a cell phone app.
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12020-09-16T17:43:50+00:00Hostile Terrain 94 Official Promo Video1Hostile Terrain 94 is a global, participatory pop-up exhibition designed to raise awareness about America's southern border humanitarian crisis. Coming in 2020 ...plain2020-09-16T17:43:50+00:00YouTubeHostile Terrain 942019-04-24T17:05:47ZF81Imwcxjr8
12020-09-17T15:49:36+00:00Support Hostile Terrain 941Link to donate: ...plain2020-09-17T15:49:36+00:00YouTubeThe Undocumented Migration Project2019-11-14T19:11:48ZPXCc-OaY2QA
1media/IMG_4935corrsm_thumb.jpg2020-10-01T20:33:07+00:00Installation Process at Chapman University1Installation Process at Chapman Universitymedia/IMG_4935corrsm.jpgplain2020-10-01T20:33:07+00:0020200928161719