Documenting Border Barriers addresses the exponential rise in the building of fortified fences and walls between nations and territories to keep people out.

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As the number of people on the move has risen in recent years, so has the building of physical barriers. People fleeing war and crisis are increasingly met with fences, walls and violence at European borders, on the USA-Mexico border, and at numerous borders worldwide. Since 2000, the number of physical barriers has risen from 15 to more than 70.

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Studying documentary reports and photographs, I have been creating individual portraits of each of the specific barriers, using the drypoint etching technique with an under-printing of woodgrain patterns printed from boards.

 

My objective is to document the majority of border barriers in the world today. This growing compendium demonstrates the pervasive policies of obstruction, exclusion, militarization and violence that are being imposed in response to societal shifts and crises, and to human suffering and need.​