Borderland Collective: Northern Triangle
Krannert Art Museum
August 22 - December 22, 2016

In 2014, more than 68,000 unaccompanied children were apprehended on the U.S./Mexico border, double the number from the previous year. Of this group, the majority are from the Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Known as the Northern Triangle, this region has a long and complicated relationship with the United States. Civil wars in the 1980s, deportation policies, the drug war, border issues, trade agreements, unjust economic structures, political corruption, poverty, human trafficking, and many other situations have all contributed.

Northern Triangle is an installation by Borderland Collective, led by artists Jason Reed and Mark Menjivar and art historian Erina Duganne.

In addition to the contributions of Menjivar, Reed, and Duganne, the exhibition includes works by Adriana Corral, Vincent Valdez, and Ricky Yanas as well as historical documents from the Library of Congress, the National Archives, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Vanderbilt Television News Archive, The South Texas Human Rights Center, and the personal archives of Stacey Merkt and Jack Elder. 

Northern Triangle aims to open spaces for constructive and ongoing dialogues and exchanges around art, migration, and human rights. At Krannert Art Museum, the exhibition will be a venue for gallery talks, classroom and community meetings, a three-day residency with members of Borderland Collective, and other collaborations with campus and city partners in Champaign-Urbana. 

Exhibition conceived and curated by Borderland Collective for Blue Star Contemporary, San Antonio 

Host curator: Amy L. Powell