One would wrongly assume that borders are just physical, that they are geographical markers that divide nations. Borders go beyond that; they permeate geography and people, they are even capable of dividing an individual’s own identity. As a Mexican immigrant, I experience a liminal space where I feel confined and exposed at the same time. This liminal experience manifests from the ambiguity and uncertainty of living in the United States as someone with a hybridized identity: Mexican, American, Texan, brown, other. The spaces depicted in my work are representations of experiences felt by immigrants, including myself. We are both surrounded and kept out by metaphorical walls that creates a liminal space felt internally. I create these spaces through painting and drawing.
In my work, the visual representation of walls and barriers works as a metaphor for exclusion, uncertainty, containment. Some of border theory that I am referencing in my work come from the Chicana author Gloria Anzaldua’s book Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza:
“Borders are set up to define the places that are safe and unsafe, to distinguish us from them. A border is a dividing line, a narrow strip along a steep edge. A borderland is a vague and undetermined place created by the emotional residue of an unnatural boundary. It is in a constant state of transition. The prohibited and forbidden are its inhabitants.”
Sandra de la Rosa is an artist born in San Luis Potosi, Mexico and raised in Houston, Texas. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Houston in 2015 and her Masters of Fine Arts in 2019 at the University of Florida. Sandra has exhibited her work in Texas and nationally in shows that emphasize the visibility of artists of color, immigrants, and border issues.
Website: http://sandra-delarosa.com/
Instagram @sldlrosa
