The “Borders and Boundaries” section of The Map and the Territory exhibition explores how borders affect relationships among individuals, communities, and places. At certain international boundaries, such as the U.S.-Mexico border, the establishment of physical divide only further motivates those on either side to unify. The Fowler is proud to present a special program celebrating artists whose transcendent projects at the U.S.-Mexico border reflect the dynamic, complex, and interdependent relationship between the U.S. and Mexico; and embrace the possibilities of what that relationship can become. Join us for a conversation—moderated by professor and artist David Taylor—with renowned jazz musician Arturo O’Farrill, interdisciplinary Southwest Native American artist collective Postcommodity, and multidisciplinary Mexican artist Marcos Ramírez ERRE. They will invite us to think critically and consider the indigenous framing of issues surrounding border discourses, the impact and consequences of the militarization of ancestral homelands, and the power of art to facilitate continued dialogues about deeply problematic colonial frameworks that reinforce hegemonic power. Arturo O’Farrill, pianist, composer, and educator, was born in Mexico and raised in New York City. In 2007, he founded the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the performance, education, and preservation of Afro Latin music. O’Farrill’s “Afro-Latin Jazz Suite” from CUBA: The Conversation Continues (Motéma) received the 2016 Best Instrumental Composition Grammy award and the 2016 Best Latin Jazz Recording Latin Grammy. His most recent album, Four Questions, won a 2021 Grammy award. His newest project streaming on HBO Max, “Fandango at the Wall,” was inspired by a festival in which he participated at the U.S.-Mexico border. O’Farrill is Professor of Global Jazz Studies and Assistant Dean for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at UCLA. Postcommodity is an interdisciplinary arts collective comprised of Cristóbal Martínez and Kade L. Twist. Their art offers a shared Indigenous lens on the assaultive manifestations of the global market, its supporting institutions, public perceptions, beliefs, and individual actions that comprise the ever-expanding, multinational, multiracial, and multiethnic colonizing forces defining the 21st century through ever increasing velocities and complex forms of violence. The collective has exhibited nationally and internationally, including at: 2017 Whitney Biennial, New York, NY; documenta14, Athens, Greece and Kassel, Germany; Desert X, Coachella Valley, CA; and The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL. Their historic land art installation, Repellent Fence, appeared at the U.S.-Mexico border near Douglas, AZ and Agua Prieta, SON. Marcos Ramírez ERRE, born in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, received his law degree from the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California. In 1983, he immigrated to the United States and in 1989, became active in the visual arts. He has participated in residencies, lectures, individual and group exhibitions in more than 17 countries. He has been invited to show in major exhibitions: InSITE, Havana Biennial, Whitney Biennial, the second Moscow Biennial; and the SITE Santa Fe Biennial, among others. In 2007, ERRE received a United States Artists fellowship, and since 2009, he has been a fellow member of Mexico’s National System of Art Creators. David Taylor’s artwork, which examines place, territory, history, and politics, has been exhibited nationally and internationally. His long-term projects reveal the changing circumstances of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. His most recent efforts posit border space as a network of contingent circumstances that operate proximate to and distant from national boundaries. Taylor’s work can be found in numerous collections, including the Library of Congress, and has been recently featured in The Guardian and Places Journal. He teaches at the University of Arizona School of Art. Share the Mic The Fowler believes in the civic duty of museums to give forum to multiple points of view. This series features thought leaders—artists, activists, and allies—who are guiding us along the arc of justice.

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