Border Crossing

Border Crossing

Luis Jimenez- Working Class Heroes: Images from the Popular Culture

Reviewed by: Mariela Quintuna

This exhibit of the Border Crossing by Luis Jimenez and it is from the Mexican Fine Arts Museum and was created in 1989 from fiberglass. It is also displayed at other parts of the country such as Washington, D.C., New York and foreign countries such as Tokyo, France, and Belgium.  This is a great art work because Jimenez captured the emotions on these two persons of how tiring their journey is and that he made this art to teach people about people from Mexico migrating to the United States is really hard, but once reached the United States, it has a happy ending. 

           Jimenez is a proud Mexican artist and his collection shows the lives of Mexicans- from going to a party to crossing the border for a better life.  This exhibit shows how they migrated here in the United States to reach their destination.  The image shows a strong, tall, poor man carrying a woman on his shoulder when they are in the desert.  The woman is carrying an infant on her arms to protect her from the things around them.  They are sitting in some kind of rock and the man is not wearing any shoes.  From looking at this image, it looks like they have been traveling for a long time.

             They both look exhausted and it seems that the sun is making it hard because they probably are dehydrated.  The woman is covered by a red blanket as if she was cold.  She is also wearing a blue striped skirt and has a look on her face of a life that has been through a lot and cannot wait to reach her destination.  Jimenez applied emotion on the two persons to show the struggle and hope in their eyes.  The man holding this woman and is dressed in a poor way and you can tell by the rope that is tied around his blue jeans that is used as a belt.

 Although they look tired and exhausted, the clear blue skies probably gives them the strength to keep on going  They are in the desert and as you can imagine all you can do in a desert is just keep walking until there is something to eat or drink. 

            This art is related to what is happening now and that is the immigration issues we are having today.  This work of art is showing hope for the rest of the people in Mexico that if there is hope for one person, then there is hope for everybody.  This painting shows the real feelings and emotions of someone coming to a new world with nothing.    It show that they been walking for probably one week and that is the same way that everybody else migrates here.

This painting that Jimenez made is impressive because he really got the emotions on their face.  However, he took this concept from his personal history and the political issues that are and probably still are happening around the world.  It can be an inspiration not only for Mexicans but to other people in the world that have that dream to come to the land of opportunities.  This is what Jimenez is trying to make us understand, that coming into a new world is difficult but there are many dreams that could be accomplished here in the United States.