The fence project

A border barrier is a separation barrier that runs along an international border. Such barriers are typically constructed for border control purposes such as curbing illegal immigration, human trafficking and smuggling.

In cases of a disputed or unclear border, erecting a barrier can serve as a de facto unilateral consolidation of a territorial claim that can supersede formal delimitation.

Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the question remains ’do good fences still make good neighbors'’? Since the Great Wall of China, the Antonine Wall, built in Scotland to support Hadrian's Wall, the Roman ’Limes’ or the Danevirk fence, the ’wall’ has been a constant in the protection of defined entities claiming sovereignty, East and West. But is the wall more than an historical relict for the management of borders? In recent years, the wall has been given renewed vigour in North America, particularly along the U.S.-Mexico border, and in Israel-Palestine. But the success of these new walls in the development of friendly and orderly relations between nations (or indeed, within nations) remains unclear. What role does the wall play in the development of security and insecurity? Do walls contribute to a sense of insecurity as much as they assuage fears and create a sense of security for those 'behind the line'? Exactly what kind of security is associated with border walls? This project explores the issue of how the return of the border fences and walls as a political tool may be symptomatic of a new era in border studies and international relations. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, this series examines problems that include security issues ; the recurrence and/or decline of the wall; wall discourses ; legal approaches to the wall; the ’wall industry’ and border technology, as well as their symbolism, role, objectives and efficiency.

My main question for this project was what are the purposes of borders in 2017? How relevant are traditional borders for coping with contemporary security and development challenges? And what are the unintended consequences of stricter border control? Are we headed for the old system of inward-oriented nation states or towards a more interconnected and interdependent world?

When I started photographing this project I wondered about the question  Do walls contribute to a sense of insecurity as much as they assuage fears and create a sense of security for those 'behind the line'? Exactly what kind of security is associated with border walls?
I wanted to check and ask people what they think about my question while I was taking pictures of them in order to explore the issue of how the return of the border fences and walls as a political tool may be symptomatic of a new era in border studies and international relations.

I also asked them questions about their own feelings about the meaning of the term fence and why do they change their attitude or body language when they go next to it? Taking a multidisciplinary approach of frames and research, this artwork  examines problems that include security issues ; the recurrence and/or decline of the wall; wall discourses ; legal approaches to the wall; the ‘wall industry’ and border technology as well as their symbolism, role, objectives and efficiency.
Moreover I wanted to find answers about the Theory of Border Walls? Walls and borders in a globalized world: the paradoxical revenge of territorialization.