The Northern Triangle
Sandra C. Fernández, American, born 1964
2018
Serigraph on paper
64/64
Image: 18 × 26 in. (45.7 × 66 cm)
Sheet: 21 15/16 × 30 in. (55.8 × 76.2 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Class of 1935 Memorial Fund
© Sandra C. Fernández
2019.18.1
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
21st century
Object Name
Research Area
Not on view
Inscriptions
Signed and dated, in graphite, lower right below image: Sandra C. Fernández 6/18; inscribed, in graphite, lower center below image: 64/64; titled, in graphite, lower left below image: “The Northern Triangle”
Label
El Salvador, Guatemala y Honduras forman la region centroamericana conocida como el Triángulo del Norte. Durante la década de los 80, en los tres países hubo Guerra civiles que dejaron un legado de violencia y gobiernos inestables. Desde entonces, miles de personas han emigrado del Triángulo del Norte, muchos de ellos menores de edad no ancompañados que viajan desde sus países de origen a través de México para buscar asilo en los Estados Unidos. Sandra Fernández el da una cara anónima a esta problema humanitario, retratando a una niña pequeña en una caja de carton envuelta en alabre de púas. Sentada sobre las vías del tren, la niña mira hacia la frontera hecha de rosarios, aludiendo a las Fuertes conexiones con la fe católica en las comunidades de inmigrantes latinoamericanos. La obra de Fernández nosh ace pensar en mucho eventos recientes relacionados con la migración de niños no acompañados y refugados politicos de Triángulo del Norte, pero particularmente en las separaciones de familias en la frontera y el numeroso grupo de centroamericanos solicitando asilo en la frontera entre los Estados Unidos y México. The Northern Triangle retrata los cuerpos migrantes que son directamente afectados por la falta de acción y llama la atención a la urgente necesidad de una reforma de la política migratoria. El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras form the Central American region known as the Northern Triangle. In the 1980s, civil wars were rampant in all three countries, leaving behind a legacy of violence and unstable governments. Since then, tens of thousands of people have migrated from the Northern Triangle, many of them unaccompanied minors often traveling from their home countries through Mexico in order to seek asylum in the United States. Sandra Fernández gives an anonymous face to this humanitarian issue, portraying a young child in a cardboard box wrapped in barbed wire. Set upon train tracks, the child looks up at the border made of rosaries, referencing the strong ties to the Catholic faith in Latin American immigrant communities. Fernández’s print is reminiscent of many recent events regarding unaccompanied minors and political refugees from the Northern Triangle, specifically family separation at the border and the large group of Central American asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. The Northern Triangle depicts the migrant bodies directly affected by the lack of action and brings urgent attention to the dire need for immigration reform. From the 2019 exhibiton A Space for Dialogue 93, Los Mojados: Migrant Bodies and Latinx Identities, curated by Armando Pulido '19, Class of 1954 Intern Representando a una joven migrante centroamericana como una "encomienda" transnacional, esta serigrafía refleja la crisis incesante de los menores no acompañados. Organizado en capas, su texto de fondo viene del Códice de Mendoza, un documento azteca que narra la vida cotidiana en el México precolombino. En verde hay un muro de rosarios, que representan las muchas fronteras ribereñas —el río Bravo hasta el río Suchiate— que dividen a los Estados Unidos, México y Guatemala. Juntos, estos objetos significan territorio mexicano, un estado-nación que hoy sirve como una barrera, una "frontera vertical". México se ha convertido, para muchos migrantes centroamericanos, especialmente los de El Salvador, Guatemala y Honduras, en la parte más difícil de sus viajes hacia el norte. Depicting a young Central American migrant girl as a transnational "care package," this serigraph reflects on the unabated crisis of unaccompanied minors. Organized in layers, its background text is from the Codex of Mendoza, an Aztec document that tells of daily life in pre-Columbian Mexico. In green is a wall of rosaries, representing the many riverine borders—the Río Grande to the Suchiate River—that divide the United States, Mexico, and Guatemala. Together, these objects signify Mexican territory, a nation-state that today serves as a barrier, a "vertical border." Mexico has become, for many Central American migrants—especially those from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—the toughest part of their northward journeys. 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
LATS 03, Introduction to Latino Studies, Marcela Di Blasi, Fall 2021
LATS 5.01, Complexities of Latinidad, Marcela Di Blasi, Fall 2021
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
HIST 2.01, #EverythingHasAHistory, Julia Rabig and Darryl Barthe, Fall 2022
HIST 2.01, #EverythingHasAHistory, Julia Rabig and Darryl Barthe, Fall 2022
Latino Studies 44.01, Latino Roots and Transitions, Thamyris Almeida, Winter 2023
Art History 40.05, Latino Studies 12.01, Print the Revolution, Mary Coffey, Spring 2023
Exhibition History
A Space for Dialogue 93, Los Mojados: Migrant Bodies and Latinx Identities, Armando Pulido, Class of 2019, Class of 1954 Intern, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, May 11-June 16, 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
Armando Pulido, Class of 2019, Class of 1954 Intern, A Space for Dialogue 93, Los Mojados: Migrant Bodies and Latinx Identities, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2019.
Provenance
Self Help Graphics & Art, Los Angeles, California; sold to present collection, 2019.
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