Hostile Terrain 94 is a global participatory art exhibition that highlights U.S. policies that have contributed to a humanitarian crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border. Created by anthropologist Jason de León, the exhibition is set to occur at 150 sites around the world — including the University of Nebraska–Lincoln — in 2020 and 2021.
Three virtual Witnessing and Remembrance Participatory Workshops for the exhibition are offered at 7 p.m. Aug. 25, Sept. 3 and Sept. 9. Register here.
The exhibition and related programming are designed to serve as a bridge between the dialogues on migration occurring along the U.S.-Mexico border and those taking place in Nebraska. The mobile quilt will be exhibited in several campus locations and in Omaha.
Hostile Terrain 94 is participatory in nature. The exhibition is composed of 3,200 toe tags that represent migrants who have died trying to cross the Sonoran Desert of Arizona between the mid-1990s and 2019. Volunteers may attend participatory workshops in which they fill in the tags with public information compiled by the coroner’s office in Tucson, Arizona.
To host an additional workshop, contact Claire Nicholas, assistant professor of textiles, merchandising and fashion design, at cnicholas2@unl.edu.
The exhibition and associated events are a collaborative, interdisciplinary effort. The coordinating committee is comprised of faculty, staff and students from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education, Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design, School of Global Integrative Studies, Forsythe Family Program on Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, International Quilt Museum, College of Law and Institute of Ethnic Studies and the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Office of Latino/Latin American Studies.
For exhibition locations, details on programming and a full list of partners and sponsors, visit the website above.
