A Very Long Line
Research borders around the world
a. Review and discuss A Very Long Line with your students. View a short video here: http://postcommodity.com/AVeryLongLine.html
What associations do students have with the phrase “a very long line?” Discuss the presence and purpose of borders and why they exist. Who enforces them?
b. Have students use the following resources to read about and discuss the Mexican border.
http://www.warscapes.com/retrospectives/uncertain-borders/excerpts-borderlandsla-frontera
Excerpts from Borderlands/ La Frontera: The New Mestiza, (1987, 2012) and by Gloria Anzaldúa.
Why do they think the artists decided to focus on this border? Talk about why the artists might have chosen to surround the viewer with visual representations of the US Mexico border and titled their work A Very Long Line. What multiple meanings might the title convey?
c. Ask students to divide into small groups. Have each group use the resources below to research historical and contemporary walls around the world and report back to the class. Each group can research why the wall was built, what they are made of, and whether (or not) the wall was pulled down.
http://origins.osu.edu/connecting-history/top-ten-origins-walls
https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/a-brief-history-of-border-walls
http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/7-famous-border-walls
http://www.wonderslist.com/10-most-famous-walls-in-the-world/
Postcommodity (founded 2007), still from A Very Long Line, 2016. Four-channel digital video, color, sound; looped. Collection of the artists; courtesy the artists