THE RESILIENCY OF CROSS-BORDER WOMEN
ALEJANDRA PHELTS’ ‘MUJERES PÁJARO’ MURAL, CELEBRATING WOMEN OF THE REGION, IS INSTALLED ON THE U.S.-MEXICO BORDER WALL
Contemporary artst Alejandra Phelts loves being a cross-border woman, constantly moving between San Diego and Tijuana, where she lives, but is aware of its challenges. Her new solo exhibition “Mujeres pájaro” — presented by the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC) in Tijuana and now on view at the Sala de Arte Álvaro Blancarte — features texts by Mexican art critic Blanca González Rosa and highlights in 34 pieces of different media the solidarity, resiliency and freedom of being a woman in this corner of the world. Born in Mexicali, the 45-year-old artist decided she wanted to see the world and traveled to France to study philosophy at the Ecole Saint-Jean when she was 19. After her return to Mexico, life took her to Tijuana in 2001,
where she was an apprentice to the artist Álvaro Blancarte for two years. Driven by her passion, she graduated from the first generation of art majors at UABC in 2007.
“Birds can fly if they’re free,” Phelts said to the San Diego Museum of Arts docents during her talk with Arts Connection last month when she shared her artist trajectory and this new project. “They are elegant and colorful, they even seem fragile, but at the same time, they are strong survivors and migrants.” It is this duality between fragility and strength that Phelts portrays in her series “Mujeres pájaro.” “Us Mexican women are borderless. We speak Spanish and we understand English. We are free, strong and stand in solidarity with each other. We share these qualities with birds, that is where the title “Mujeres pájaro” comes from.”
“The news and the narrative of Tijuana revolves around violence and migration. But the cross-border woman is not a victim,” Phelts continues. “This project uses the power of art to educate and demystify, as well as
offer another perspective of the women that live at the border, free from the wall.”
But before her solo exhibition — on view until June 20 at UABC — Phelts will bring her art to the border wall.
“I felt this was the moment to intervene it and to express my ideas,” said the artist.
On International Women’s Day on Wednesday, a great mural was visible on the border wall that divides Mexico and the United States, right next to the CBX pedestrian bridge. Made of new adhesive vinyl technology, this 700-square-foot mural features two of her artworks crisscrossed. From one angle, in “Bird Sisters,” two ballerinas are leaping, “a step that takes a lot of strength but looks effortless” is how Phelts describes it. From the other perspective, three Amazon women are running “strong and united chasing freedom.” The intervention will be on display until June.
Also, in mid-April, Phelts will announce on her social media a call for women from both sides of the border to help her paint small bird-women — her mythical pottery creation — produced by art students at UABC based on Phelts’ mold. These will be hung at the same gallery by the end of April.
Today, Phelts continues to create in her studio and home, which she shares with her two sons. She also offers free classes to migrant children and children in foster care. For more about her work, visit alejandraphelts.com.