A border is a boundary, the seam or dividing space between two seemingly separate entities. Invisible and physical borders structure the current globalized actuality. Walls, cameras, weapons, and bodies of water serve as natural and artificial barriers, demarking and fracturing geographic terrain. While less physically present, neighborhoods and cultures are also partitioned. These exterior divisions are inherently internalized, one's very identity a kaleidoscope of varied realities, cultures, and ideologies. Currently, the borderlines of American identity have been irritated, set aflame. The signifier of America (its logo the red, white, and blue), is currently enthroned amidst border fences; lines that are meant to exclude. From a “president’s” twitter feed to the streets of America’s major cities, the battle for what is “American” is in full swing.
In the blog series, Dissecting Boston (which took place in the Spring of 2017 and was conducted for the Weave News) I dissected and analyzed the varied mythologies of America, viewed through the lens of Eastern Massachusetts. The streets of Boston and the beaches of Plum Island served as both the case study and canvas on which I contextually excavated and then artistically wove together the prevailing mythologies of American identity. By exploring the microcosm of "New" England's first settler communities, the much broader borderlines of the American mask were slowly be revealed.
In order to conduct this process proactively, I created art in response to my research and the objects I collect for the People’s History Archive. In the end I created 12 blog posts, which contained archival research, analyses, original works of art and occasional artistic vandalism. Bellow are all the blogs listed in numerical order.
Plan of the West Parish of Newbury New Town. "Ould Newbury": Historical and Biographical Sketches, 1896.
