La Frontera: Artists along the US Mexican Border

LA FRONTERA: Artists along the US-Mexico Border. 200 border artists photographed since 2008 a project by NYC photographer www.stefanfalke.com I am posting art related stories from the US-Mexico borderlands - stories I find on fb or elsewhere online, anything that shines a light on the cultural activities in the region. Since 2008 he photographed about 200 a

rtists along the entire 2000 miles long divide to show the cultural side of a region that is usually portrayed with the sole focus on violent crime. The border has particular significance to him since he was born in Germany where a border divided his country until it came down in 1989. Meanwhile the steel ‘wall’ between the US and Mexico is growing in length and hight and does its part to create a physiological and physical barrier between the two countries. Artists have the finger on the pulse of society and Falke believes that if we ignore the cultural side of troubled places, we will soon stop caring about them all together. He photographed both internationally renowned as well as only locally known or even unknown artists. Each one has a positive influence on their community in one way or another, often by their highly visible creations like murals and sculptures in public places. Stefan Falke was born in Paderborn, Germany, in 1956 and lives in New York City. He published three books to date: ‘MOKO JUMBIES: The dancing Spirits of Trinidad’, ’LA FRONTERA: Künstler entlang der US-mexikanischen Grenze‘ and ’Keep Going New York !!’

Falke is a member of the German photo agency ‘laif’.