BROKEN LANDSCAPE I (2009)

Wood, plywood, foam, plastic, paint, branches, dirt, and other natural materials.
80′ × 2.5′ × 7′

(Installation view: Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY)

Broken Landscape I is based on Blane De St. Croix’s travels along the length of the Mexico/United States border. Conducting research along the course of over 3,000 miles of fence construction, the artist visited fifteen border crossings, and spoke with people on both sides of the border communities (both geographically and ideologically speaking), including civilian residents, fence contractors, US border patrol and journalists.

Broken Landscape I reconstructs a selection of this border as a monumental miniaturized section of the new fence and surrounding landscape. Realized as a sculpture for Smack Mellon’s gallery in Brooklyn, the sculpture ran over one hundred feet in length through the entire space climbing varying heights and slicing between the gallery’s columns and architectural spaces. The sculpture itself divided the space, acting as a border or barrier controlling the viewer. Referencing the historical genre of landscape painting, Broken Landscape I is a painstaking rendering of the land’s topography and its manufactured border.

Detailed ink drawings and Research (U.S./Mexico Border and Return to U.S/Mexico Border) in support of the project and its research can be viewed in the respective sections.

Photo credit: Etienne Frossard