Tijuana — Corrie Slawson

TJ in China Project Space

In 2013 my husband, son and I spent three weeks in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico at the TJinCHINA Project Space. We explored Tijuana as a pedestrians gathering information and photographic material for this work. Moving through the city in this way provided us the source material for mixed-media city-scapes. I made a make-shift printshop using basic materials in the TJINCHINA project space. The color palette was influenced by TJ using the available, local Politec and Comex paints. The green and neon orange are colors that not only repeat themselves throughout the city (and are politically coded) also refer to the Mexican flag. Color fades with spray paint create quasi-sunsets and sunrises over the hills of Baja California.

Issues related to Tijuana’s status as a border city with the United States struck us upon their first visit to the Border Fence at Playas de Tijuana; while ubiquitous to Tijuanese, we felt culpable for it as U.S. citizens/taxpayers and embarrassed at not really understanding that this structure has been in place for many years.