Interdisciplinary 101 kicks off the term with Marcel Brousseau, a Senior Instructor in English at Portland State University as well as a Courtesy Assistant Professor in English at the UO. The gathering will be this Friday in the EMU in Room 23, the Lease-Crutcher-Lewis Room at 10:30 am. He will be speaking upon the work conducted as a result of his CEF Faculty Research Award in 2020, where he completed a chapter of his book Hyperborders, entitled “Lines and Shutters: Photography of the U.S.-Mexico Border Wall.”
The chapter focuses on three artistic projects: Peter Goin’s 1987 photographic survey of the U.S.-Mexico border, Tracing the Line; the late-1990s, early-2000s photography made by author William T. Vollmann for his project Imperial; and the ongoing photographic and activist work of San Diego-Tijuana-based artist María Teresa Fernández. Representing distinct junctures in borderlands history, from contrasting subject positions, each artist questions differently how the camera confronts a border environment undergoing constant transformation. Using a methodology of site analysis, artist interview, and photographic close-reading, “Lines and Shutters” engages border photography as what Ariella Azoulay calls “the product of an encounter,” and considers how three photographers extend their distinct encounters toward a critique of a future hyper-border.We hope you can make what should be an excellent presentation!
