Richard Misrach’s “Wall, Near Los Indios Texas” (2015)

Guillermo Galindo’s Metal Piñata, with shotgun shell casings found on a Border Patrol shooting range.

Border Cantos, an exhibition at the San Jose Museum of Art through July 31, 2016, is an artistic collaboration between landscape photographer Richard Misrach and experimental composer Guillermo Galindo which documents the human reality of the US-Mexico borderlands. Misrach has been photographing the 2,000-mile border between the US and Mexico since 2004, and his sweeping, panoramic photographs explore border issues by focusing on isolated personal possessions found abandoned in the border zone: shoes, broken jewelry,  a torn-up copy of the Spanish-language edition of Dr. Zhivago.  The images are large, more than 6 feet high, and visitors can imagine walking right into them.  For the music, Galindo uses discarded items to build unconventional instruments that are inspired by indigenous traditions from around the globe.

The exhibition brings a humanitarian perspective to the heated political debates that surround the subject of immigration today.  Whether or not Border Cantos spurs debate or leads to social and political action, it certainly meets SJMA’s Executive Director Susan Krane’s goal of creating “a shared space for civic engagement.”  (Robert Taylor, East Bay Times.) 

For videos and more information, visit the Border Cantos project website.

The San Jose Museum of Art is open Tuesday-Sunday, 11 am – 5 pm, and 11 am – 8 pm on the third Tuesday of the month.  110 south Market Street, San Jose, CA  408-271-6840