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María José Crespo (1991) grew up in Tijuana, on the border between Mexico and the United States. At a young age, she already experienced how territorial borders regulate everyday life, while life itself is always transgressing these borders. People, goods, information, laws, and stories are constantly crossing boundaries. As an artist, Crespo researches ‘in-between areas’, such as borders and ports. She examines how such territories are represented in archives, as well as the stories and documents that exist around their history. Crespo translates this research into spatial installations that combine different techniques and media, such as photo collages, sound, sculpture, and video.
The installation she is showing at Prospects revolves around the story of avisadoras, female messengers who, with flashlights and vanity mirrors, sent coded messages across the border between Mexico and the US at the time of the Mexican Revolution (1910-17). Most of these avisos (messages) contained warnings, for instance to alert recipients of approaching border patrols.
Although most messengers at that time were men, i.e. avisadores, during her research Crespo came across a source specifically mentioning female messengers, i.e. avisadoras. Unfortunately, very little is known about these women. In her installation Crespo therefore speculates about their identity and activities. She created a fictional setting where the avisadoras encounter other, related historical figures, such as women who fought in the Mexican Revolution, migrants, and telegraphers who sent messages across national borders by using an optical telegraph. A similar optical telegraph was also the model for the sculpture Crespo is showing at Prospects.
Text: Sarah van Binsbergen
Translated from Dutch by Marie Louise Schoondergang (The Art of Translation)