¡Imagina un mundo sin fronteras!!

Kevin Caplicki, American, born 1978

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2012

Silkscreen and letterpress on paper

14/40

Sheet: 18 × 12 in. (45.7 × 30.5 cm)

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Contemporary Art Fund

© Kevin Caplicki

2013.46.7

Portfolio / Series Title

Migration Now

Publisher

Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative | CultureStrike, New York

Geography

Place Made: United States, North America

Period

21st century

Object Name

Print

Research Area

Print

Not on view

Label

Caplicki’s print urges us to recognize how simple documentation methods can be used to control human flow. The artist explicitly urges us to think about how a world without these documentary tools as he exhorts us to "¡Imagina un mundo sin fronteras!’ [Imagine a world without borders!]. here, the movement of individuals is codified and reduced to simple numbers, letters, and seals exemplifying a created form of documentation for control in geopolitical struggles. This work also encourages us to see borders themselves as abstract delineations of space and power reinforced by information management.

From the 2019 exhibition A Space for Dialogue 95, Creating Knowledge and Control, curated by Annabelle Bardenheier '19, Conroy Programming Intern

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Refugiado, asilado, migrante, nómada, ilegal. Estos son algunos de los términos utilizados para describir a los forzosamente desplazados. Estos descriptores intentan encapsular la razón por el movimiento transnacional de personas: debido a la inseguridad alimentaria o el cambio climático, la pobreza, la violencia política, la discriminación, e históricamente, según el gráfico de Bec Young, por esclavitud. Estos marcadores sirven como símbolos inestables para distinguir a los extraños de aquellos que se consideran parte de la comunidad nacional. Si bien es posible que tengan buenas intenciones, estas palabras refuerzan la coherencia del estado-nación al marginar y racializar a los que se consideran ajenos.

A los pueblos migrantes, a menudo representados como invasores y hostiles en la actualidad, se les imponen estos términos como una forma de clasificación social, para categorizar sus reclamos y evaluar su valor humano. Dicho de otro modo, estos marcadores se utilizan para evaluar el mérito de los migrantes y tienden a ofuscar el contexto político y la historia. Si una persona logra ingresar, los migrantes están interminablemente cargados para demostrar su pertenencia y autovalor, como en el formulario I-94 emitido por la Oficina de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza de EE. UU., que aquí dice: "Los documentos no definen al ser humano".

Refugee, asylee, migrant, nomad, illegal: these are some of the terms used to describe the forcefully displaced. Such descriptors are deployed to describe the reason for people’s transnational movement—from food insecurity or climate change, to poverty, political violence, discrimination, and historically, as in Bec Young’s graphic, as chattel. These terms serve as unstable signifiers to distinguish outsiders from those considered part of a national community. While possibly well-intentioned, they also reinforce nation-state coherence by marginalizing and racializing those considered other.

Migrating peoples, often figured as invaders and hostiles today, have these terms thrust upon them as a way of social sorting—to categorize their claims and assess their human worth. In other words, these markers are utilized to evaluate migrant deservingness and tend to obfuscate political context and history. Should a person gain entry, migrants are interminably burdened by documents to prove belonging and self-worth, such as in the I-94 departure form issued by US Customs and Border Protection, that here reads: "Documents do not define the human being."

From the 2022 exhibition Bolas de Fuego: Culture and Conflict in Central America, curated by Jorge E. Cuéllar, Assistant Professor of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies

Course History

LACS 8.01, Politics and Culture in Transnational Central America, Jorge Cuellar, Summer 2022

LACS 8.01, Politics and Culture in Transnational Central America, Jorge Cuellar, Summer 2022

LACS 8.01, Politics and Culture in Transnational Central America, Jorge Cuellar, Summer 2022

Exhibition History

A Space for Dialogue 95, Creating Knowledge And Control, Annabelle Bardenheier, Class of 2019, Conroy Intern, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, August 10-September 22, 2019.

Bolas de Fuego: Culture and Conflict in Central America, Teaching exhibition, Guest curator Jorge E. Cuellar, Class of 1967 Gallery and the LeWitt Wall, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, May 28-September 25, 2022.

Publication History

Annabelle Bardenheier, Class of 2019, Conroy Intern, A Space for Dialogue 95, Creating Knowledge And Control, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2019.

Provenance

Booklyn Artists Alliance, Brooklyn, New York; sold to present collection, 2013.

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